Two is Better than One
by Carlypso
Summary: Tony Stark finds out he has a very young daughter, who is in need of a home, love, and a family. Which is exactly what the struggling father tries to provide for her.
1. Chapter 1

**Thank you ****Pollux'sThetaWaves for betaing.  
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It wasn't uncommon for people to claim they had a child with Tony Stark. He was, after all, famous for sleeping around with many women. That and people would do anything for money, which was precisely the reason why he hired a lawyer to deal with these accusations. Pepper simply didn't have the time to deal with such things; he also had a few quarts of blood stored away for DNA testing for the people who were serious about it. This had proved to be useful because most people backed down once they demanded a DNA test.

It was late one afternoon when Pepper had gotten a call from Laura Pace. The woman who was in charge of such matters, for not only Tony Stark, but other celebrities. She rarely called, usually only to tell Pepper that Tony needed to donate more blood, or other strange matters. Pepper could only nod her head as she agreed to a quick meeting with the woman. Her eyes diverted to Tony who on the other side of the glass, was moving about the garage stopping every few seconds to tap his fingers on his Arc Reactor, this was a new habit Pepper had noticed, that Tony had devolved, since she helped him install it.

"I'll be there in ten minutes." The woman said on the other side of the cell phone, her thick British accent, ringing in Pepper's ear. With out a good bye the woman on the other end snapped her cell phone shut, leaving Pepper in silence. Pepper snapped her phone closed, slipping the thin phone in her pocket, and with her newly freed hand tapped the code to get into Tony's garage, stepping in with the clack of her heals.

"Tony!" she said loudly, her eyes watching Tony turn around with a look of confusion on his face. He muttered a very soft 'hello Pepper' before continuing on searching for what ever it was he lost. "Laura Pace is coming over; she has requested a quick meeting with us." She said, calmly watching Tony's face scrunch up in confusion.

"Who?" he asked, running his fingers through his black hair glanced back at Pepper who could only roll her eyes. Tony forgot nearly everything, and this only made her job harder. "Laura Pace, she's one of your lawyers." Pepper said watching Tony tap at his Arc Reactor; suddenly he scrunched his eyebrows forgotten memories coming back to him.

"Laura Pace? The lawyer that deals with the child law suits?" He asked leaning against a messy table. Pepper nodded her head watching Tony as he thought about what the woman could want.

Jarvis's loud British voice echoed over the room allowing both of them to know that Laura had arrived, and was waiting in the living room. Without another word Pepper turned on her heel, and made her way back out the door that she had just came through, it closed with a hiss. The sound of her heels couldn't be heard on the other side of the wall. Grabbing the nearest towel, Tony wiped his hands of all visible grease, tossed it over his shoulder, and made his way upstairs.

Pepper and Laura Pace stood in the living room waiting for Tony. Laura, a small old woman, with streaks of grey hair through her white locks, studied Tony with such an intensity, that he felt small, and child-like. Swiftly Tony made his way to the woman, wanting to get the meeting over with as quickly as possible, so he could get back to work. "Miss. Pace!" He said sticking his freshly clean hand out to her. She continued to harshly study him for a second before also sticking her hand out grasping his hand tightly, "Mr. Stark." She said, her thick British accent echoing through the room.

"If we could get started?" The woman asked, pulling a thick brown folder to her chest. It was the first time Tony had noticed she was carrying anything. Still feeling small compared to this woman, he muttered a very unconvincing yes, and used his free hand to motion her towards the white couch.

Tony sat in the middle of Pepper, and Laura. He patiently waited for her to start whatever she wanted to talk to them about. Silently the woman flipped through the brown folder, pulling out a white piece of paper, with a silver paperclip in the top left corner. Suddenly Laura's eyes were filled with sympathy as she handed the paper to Tony.

The paper its self, was a bleached white, with tar-black type. The paper had a small picture attached of a child, her arms, and legs, covered in tons of medical tape, tubes, and gauze. The child's skin also had large black, purple, and yellow bruises scattered across her skin.

"It's been confirmed, she is your daughter." Laura said, watching Tony's face twist into an emotion she had seen many times before in her line of work. It was a mix of shock, sadness, and pain. After a long pause of silence, Tony tossed the paper on the table running his hands through his hair. He didn't know what to do, what to say. Nothing, in his entire life, could have prepared him for something like this. Pepper snatched the paper, a gasp escaped from her lips when she saw the picture of the little girl.

"What happened to her?" She said, outraged. Laura suddenly straightened her back, and weaved her fingers in her lap. Her mouth quivered for a second, before she spoke, her voice soft, and very clam. "CAS took her away from her mother, three weeks ago." Miss. Pace said softly then proceeded to tell the two of how the child had been hit on a regular basis, deprived of food, and clothing. But most horrifying of all, was the man of the house-hold had taken sewing pins and pushed them through the small child's body. She had a surgery to remove most of them about two weeks ago, and had another surgery planned in two days to remove the ones close to her heart and other organs.

Pepper began to cry as the woman explained that the little girl was 17 months old, and was already behind in her development. She could walk, but couldn't talk at all; she was also slightly deaf, among other things.

Tony remained silent, thousands of thoughts were running through his mind, once again his eyes skimmed the picture on the table, it was almost impossible to tell what the child looked liked, her face was too swollen, and covered with bandages.

"Mr. Stark?" Laura asked watching the man in deep thought. He could only look at her, he couldn't think of anything to say. Pepper, gently placed a hand on his shoulder, and he flinched not expecting such an action.

"Would you like to see her Mr. Stark?" Laura asked, watching him intently. It was the second time she had asked him the question, but he was so out of it, she had to ask it a second time. Suddenly Tony sat up stiffly; it had finally clicked in his mind what he was being asked.

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Tony had always hated hospitals, he hated everything about them, and having to be in one wasn't helping his situation. Laura had led both him and Pepper to the children's ward; he had never been to one before. There was cream colored walls with paintings of Disney characters, that all looked to happy to be there. Very few children were actually in the ward, so when Laura led them into a large room with at least 3 other beds he wasn't surprised to see only one of them occupied.

She wasn't really sleeping in a bed, but some strange kind of incubator. Her face was much better looking then in the picture he had seen only hours ago, but yellowish bruises, and medical instruments still remained. As well as a few stitches here and there from where they had pulled out the sewing needles encased in his little girl's body. She was only wearing a diaper, which had some children's T.V. show printed on the front. Tony found himself lost, slipping his hand inside the warm incubator and placing his large fingers into her tiny hand.

"What's her name?" Tony asked, as he watched his child's chest slowly rise and fall, her eyes tightly shut. He could feel Laura stiffen behind him. Laura cleared her throat, before answering in the simplest manner as possible, "She doesn't have a name."

Tony could feel his insides burning with anger. What kind of human does this to a child? He could only imagine the things they called her, the things they would have said to her.

"Tony?" Pepper asked, worried, he hadn't said a lot since this load of information was dumped on him. She was beginning to worry, because she had no idea what he was thinking.

"Her name is Maria." Tony said suddenly, stirring the silence in the room. Pepper could only nod her head in agreement; Pepper knew that Maria was his mother's name. Laura's shoulders stiffened again, watching Tony slide his hand from the incubator. He knew what he had to do now; he knew that he had to take his daughter home, because he felt the overwhelming need to protect her.

"What now?" He asked, looking at his lawyer who pulled the folder close to her once more.

"I'm assuming you want to keep her?" She said studying Stark sharply. He nodded his head in agreement, Laura only watched with interest, before harshly grinding her teeth. "Then we have a lot of paper work to sort through." She said, swiftly turning on her her heels and walking out of the room.

Maria spent most of her time sleeping, but Tony understood, and honestly would have it no other way, because sleeping meant that she was healing. The quicker she healed, the sooner she got home. She had finally gotten her second surgery and all of the pins in her body had been removed. Small stitches covered her body; they would leave thin scars, but it was much better then pins implanted in her body.

Since the papers were signed and finalized, Tony had gained full responsibilities over her, even if CAS would be involved with his child every step of the way.

He quickly sent Pepper out to 'buy any toys a little girl could imagine', he could tell Pepper enjoyed such a task, often coming back to the hospital to show Tony the dresses, and outfits she had gotten for Maria. He had her hire someone to fix up a room in the house for Maria's bedroom, and also asked Rhodey to fix a part of his garage into a play-area for Maria so she could play in the shop while he was working.

The hospital allowed him to hold Maria a few hours after her last surgery. But they had to keep the medical equipment attached to her, and he understood why. The equipment was keeping her alive and healthy. But they didn't change the way he felt about her, and how tiny she was in his large arms. He didn't know how long he held her, because just watching the little creature in his arms suck her thumb, and every so often open her soft blue eyes to look around the room, seemed to pass the time like nothing.

There was a soft knock at the door, and Tony forced his eyes away from his daughter. Rhodey and Pepper were standing at the door holding bags of food. Tony had suddenly remembered he hadn't eaten all day.

"Hungry?" Rhodey asked holding the brown bag up for Tony to see. Tony nodded shifting around in the chair a little, his arms still wrapped around his daughter protectively. Both of his friends smiled, entering the room silently; pulling up two chairs beside him.

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Please review.


	2. Chapter 2

The hospital kept Maria for a few more days, making sure she was healthy enough to go home, Tony, Pepper, and Rhodey couldn't have been happier to leave such a horrible place. The paintings on the walls were starting to get to everyone.

But actually getting Maria home was a challenge, she was fully awake now, and had no drugs in her system. When Tony attempted to pick her up, she would scream, squirming her little body around so he would have to let go of her. It had taken them a long time to figure out that she would not let men hold her. Pepper ended up being the one to carry her home.

Tony would never admit, but it hurt that he couldn't hold his little girl. But one of the CAS workers promised him it would take some time before Maria warmed up to him. He would have to just stay positive.

The next few days were extremely challenging. Tony found him self frustrated, and in a sense; losing hope. Maria continued to scream and cry when he would pick her up. Often hiding from him, behind Pepper or behind the vast amounts of her toys. Which she wouldn't touch, it was almost like she didn't understand what to do with the toys.

Frustrated Tony sat watching his daughter play on the carpet in the garage. Her play time consisted of her rolling around on the colorful carpet, babbling. Pepper had left only moments ago to get something to eat, while they watched Maria, do pretty much nothing.

Tony found him self running his hand over his forehead, he remembered the CAS worker said it would take time for Maria to trust him. But what worried him was how long it would take? Tony tried to listen to Maria's babbles, realizing that he couldn't hear any thing, room was silent.

Confused he looked up to see Maria, studying a shelf her fingers in her mouth. She was looking at a stuffed rabbit that sat lopsided on the self. Its grey fluffy ears hanging off the shelf in a lazy manner.

She pulled her wet fingers out of her mouth, reached towards the rabbit and babbled. Then placed her fingers back in her mouth. Tony understood that she wanted the toy, so he slowly pushed himself away from the table. The chair made a light scraping sound against the floor.

Maria noticed the commotion on the other side of the room, and sharply looked at Tony who slowly made his way over to the shelf. Terrified she quickly made her way over to the brightly colored play house, her fingers still in her mouth. She stood at the door watching, Tony walk past her at a distance.

It was easy for Tony to grab the stuffed rabbit, and pulled it down with ease. She watched him with wide eyes as he held the rabbit in his hands. The fabric of the creature was soft, warm and grey; He could see why she liked it.

"Come here Maria, come get your rabbit!" He said, sitting down on the colorful carpet, the rabbit in his out stretched hand. If he could show her, he wouldn't hurt her, maybe she would trust him? What better way to show her then give her a toy she wanted?

Maria watched him with her blue eyes, her fingers still in her mouth. "Come here Maria, I won't hurt you!" He said softly showing her once again the grey bunny in his hands. Her eyes suddenly diverted to the rabbit, her body jerked as she caught her balance.

Tony watched as she turned her face away from him, her small hands pulling on the plastic door of her toy house. He waited patiently for her to take interest in the rabbit once more, secretly praying for his plan to work.

Maria pulled her fingers out of her mouth, babbling at him. When she was finished she put her fingers back in her mouth and waited. He couldn't help but chuckle; she wanted him to give it to her. Again she tried her plot to get her bunny, pulling her fingers out of her mouth pointing and babbling.

"Come and get the bunny, Maria. It's okay." Tony said softly, shaking the bunny gently. She continued to babble at Tony, as if she were telling him, "Its okay, you can just leave the bunny there. I'll get it."

"Come on Maria. It's okay." He repeated; she hesitated, but slowly took a couple of steps towards him. Stopping to make sure he wasn't going to do anything to her. "Its okay!" he hummed, watching her jerk her body to regain her balance once more.

Again, but very slowly she walked towards him and (Which actually looked more like stomping) stopping. This continued on for a few more minutes until she was close enough to reach her bunny, but she wouldn't grab it. Instead she watch Tony intently, fear etched into her eyes.

"Its okay, you can have the bunny Maria." He said softly as he slowly handed the bunny to Maria who looked as if she were going to run away any second. Confused by such a gesture she studied the bunny in his hand, her fingers still in her mouth. He could see the trails of drool that rolled down her chin and onto the dress she was wearing. She once again jerked her body catching herself, and to Tony's surprise reached forward for the bunny with two hands.

When he was sure she had it, he let go allowing her to pull the stuffed toy to her face where she began to study it. Her blue eyes wide and curious. With a wet hand she grabbed its face squeezing harshly, to test its softness. The stuffed toy was almost bigger then her, but she didn't seem to care.

She suddenly let out a hiccup, her eyes still studding her prize. Another hiccup ruptured threw her chest. "Do you like that Maria?" Tony asked her softly. She turned her attention away from the rabbit, her eyes wide, and mouth open to look up at Tony. She babbled something back at him, hiccupping when she was finished. He could only laugh; confused Maria looked at him one last time, hiccupping then slowly making her way, away from him with her new prize.

Feeling like he had accomplished something, he looked around the shop, which was in a mess. Pepper had been gone for a while; it made him wonder where she was. Maybe she got caught in rush hour traffic?

The babbling from Maria was louder, and he diverted his eyes to where she _was _standing, to have his vision blocked by Maria who was very close to him. She was placing two small plastic colorful blocks in front of him, before running away to get more. The stuffed animal was securely in her hand, as she stomped her away across the room.

When Pepper arrived she was frustrated, holding a brown bag of food. She had been caught in traffic, and was annoyed at how stupid people could possibly be. A bit angry she typed her code into the keypad and pushed the door open with a soft swish.

She was instantly surprised by a sound she hadn't heard before; the laughter of a small child. Peering over the table she could see Tony sitting on the floor with a stuffed rabbit in his hand, which he was pretending to kiss Maria with. As soon as the rabbit would make contact with her still slightly yellow bruised skin, she would burst out into a fit of giggles, until Tony pulled away. There was a smile on his face like none she had seen before, he was happy. Truly happy for once in the long years she had known him.


	3. Chapter 3

About a month later, Maria had gotten better. Her skin was now a normal creamy white, and she no longer had stitches. They left behind thin scars on her tummy, and back. They would fade, but they would be a permanent imprint on her skin. She would also now let Tony hold her, for small amounts of time. When she didn't want to be held she would squirm until she was free, then hide.

But other then that, she would spend most of her time playing with simple toys. She didn't care much for the ones that made noise. He was positive that this was because she was slightly def, and wasn't able to hear as well as a normal child. But the loud ones seemed to terrify her, and others she would press her ears against, not being able to hear anything. These were usually the quieter toys, and because she couldn't hear anything it seemed to frustrate his daughter, and soon most noise making toys were pushed aside with the others.

Tony of course, could hear every single toy she had as clear as a bell. The most annoying and one of the only noise toys she played with, was a duck that quacked when she squeezed its lips together. It was meant to be a puppet but she had yet to figure that out. She would often stick her face inside the hole, and other small toys, using it as a purse or bag. He had tried to show her how it worked, but she began to scream, she didn't like that he was telling her how to play with her toys. He remembered Pepper laughing at him, when Maria threw a fit, because she too had learned earlier; never ever, tell Maria how to play with her toys.

C.A.S had in fact been in touch with him a few times over the weeks, to make sure that everything was alright. They even gave him the name of child Phychiatrist, who he had been in contact with a couple of times. One of the things she suggested was that Tony allow her to watch some television, and talk to her so she could start to learn how to speak. She suggested a few television shows that allowed children to interact with the show its self. Maria's favorite being 'Blues Clues', she would often stare up at the screen while she held her stuffed rabbit, her mind reeling with god knows what. Sometimes she would point at the screen and scream. He figured this was the way she answered Steve, but it was also the reason why Tony only allowed her to watch, very little amounts of TV.

Tony moved his eyes from his work to quickly see what Maria was doing. Pepper had left to pick up some things from work, and handle a couple of meetings. They had both agreed it was too soon, to leave Maria with a babysitter, and since she had no time accepting Pepper, that Tony should be the one watching her. He had still yet to fully bond with her, and the more alone time they spent together, meant the more relaxed Maria would be around him.

Maria was standing on her carpet studding the bottom of her rabbit, quite intently. The ending of her show was playing on the large T.V, in her play area. When her show was completely finished, the TV flicked off automatically but she barely noticed. She was happy studying the butt of her rabbit. Which he found to be quite funny, because you think as often as she carried the stupid thing around, she would know every inch of it.

Tony turned back to his work, tying wires together on one of the many parts of his iron armor. The sound of pattering feet was heard close by, as he once again looked around the shop for his daughter who was making her way towards him. Maria stopped a little ways from him, the rabbit dangling from her arms. He swerved his chair to look at her; her soft blue eyes were studying him fiercely.

"What are you doing pumpkin?" He asked, watching her make her way to him, her running shoes thumping off the cement. She reached for him doing grabby hands, which surprised him. She wanted him to hold her? Gently he bent over placing his hands under her armpits and picking her up. Allowing her to settle in his lap. She squirmed a bit trying to get comfortable, and after a few minutes she settled down playing with the ears of her rabbit, quite awkwardly.

"Da-da." She said, lifting the rabbit's ears above her head, hitting him in the face. Normally Tony would have been able to move, but he was in too much shock. He wasn't quite sure if he had heard her correctly, or maybe he was crazy and her babbling had started to sound like words.

"What did you say, Pumpkin?" He asked, drawing her attention away from the bunny. Her dark lashes fluttered, and she opened her mouth struggling with her words. "Daaaaa-Da!" She said, turning away from him and playing with her bunny once more. Tony repressed the urge to hug her and kiss her; he knew it would scare her.

"Ooooohs, Da-da, Oooohs!" She said, pointing her small hands across the room. She was now holding her rabbit by its ear, her fingers pointed in no general direction. As excited as Tony was to hear his daughter talking, he didn't know what the hell she wanted. What the hell were Oohs?

"Oooohs, Oooohs!" She said, pointing again, "Da-da, Ooohs!"

Tony picked his daughter up, carrying her over to the wall she was pointing at. "This?" he asked pointing at a picture; it suddenly caught her interest as her little eyes examined the photos.

"Those are pictures Maria!" Tony said, as he pointed to the black and white frames on the wall. She squirmed a bit trying to get a better look at them, before turning back around, and looking at him.

"Oooohs, Oooohs, Da-da!" She said pointing some where else; he followed her to where she was pointing. This continued on for at least twenty more minutes, not that he minded. This meant he could hold his daughter, and that maybe when he explained to her what things were, she would pick up the words.

"What are you two doing?" Pepper asked, when she stepped into the room, Rhodey tagging along at her heals. Tony eyes diverted to the small clock on the wall, and he realized it was about 5 o'clock. Maria had still yet to have her supper. Suddenly he could feel his chest fill with pride; Pepper didn't know that, Maria had said her first words.

"Guess what?" He beamed, holding his daughter who had, placed her fingers in her mouth, droll falling from her mouth. Pepper wasn't quite sure how to react to this Tony. So she did the only thing that came to her mind, she asked 'What?'

"Maria said her first words!" He beamed, Pepper's face instantly brightened up in excitement.

"What did she say!" She chimed, walking quickly over to Maria who reached her arms out for Pepper. Tony proudly handed her over, he was after all her first word (and he didn't want to push his snuggle time).

"She said Da-da!" The smile on his face got wider, as Pepper bounced the child in her arms. Upon hearing her word, she pulled her fingers out of her mouth and pointed to her father, and said "Da-da, Ooooohs, Oooohs, Da-da!"

"What are Ohs?" Pepper asked, running her hand along Maria's forehead, moving her short black locks out of her face lovingly. Maria squirmed a little, not to avoid the touch, but to see who was standing behind Pepper.

"Don't know!" Tony said, watching Rhodey make foreign baby faces at his daughter. Most children would have giggled, or laughed, but his child quickly turned around shyly. Peaking over Pepper's shoulder every so often, to see what he was doing.

"Have you fed her?" Pepper asked distracting Tony from watching his daughter. He was slightly ashamed he had forgotten to feed her, so he shook his head no. A small smile spread across Pepper's face.

"Have you eaten?" She asked, once again, he shook his head. He was so distracted and excited showing Maria around the shop, he forgot all about food. Maria was probably starving!

"I think we should go out for supper tonight, to celebrate Maria's new word! What do you say Maria?" Pepper asked, tickling Maria's side with her free hand. Maria gave a cute muffled giggle, before burying her head in Pepper's shoulder.

"I think it sounds like a plan!" Tony said, swiping his cell phone off the near by desk and scrolling threw his contact list. He pressed the call button when he saw Happy's name come up on the screen.

"I'll get Maria's things, and give her a fresh diaper. She's a little smelly." Pepper said, swiftly making her way out of the shop and up stairs to Maria's room. Which was quite large for a child her size.

It had taken a total of Twenty-two minutes, to get Maria ready. Maria made it quite difficult for Pepper, to change her diaper making grabby hands at Pepper and telling her "Ooohs" repeatedly.

The restaurant was large, and as soon as they walked in people were staring at Tony. Whispering, and pointing. Things like this didn't usually annoy him, but today with his daughter it did. So he asked to be placed in a secluded area.

They were placed in a far corner of the restaurant, and Maria was placed in a small high chair at the end of the table her back turned to the rest of the world, her rabbit on her table top. She squirmed a little not liking her confinement but soon, settled down and played with the ears of her rabbit.

"Hi, I'm Jen. I'm going to be your waitress today," An older woman said passing out menus to everyone but Maria; who was looking around sharply trying to figure out what was going on.

"So I guess we can start off with drinks if you're ready?" She asked, her bright eyes looking around at everyone; writing down the responses she got.

"Ooohhs? Ooohhs?" Maria asked, looking at Jen who smiled back. Maria seemed to like this lady, so she gave a very shy smile back, holding her rabbit tightly in her two hands.

"Such a sweetie!" Jen said, walking away from the small group to get their drinks. Pepper's eyes suddenly jolted to Tony, who was looking at his daughter confused.

"And we have no idea what Oohs are?" Pepper asked when Tony removed his eyes from his daughter to look at Pepper. Her lips were pressed tightly together in thought.

"Maybe its nothing? Kids make all kinds of words up!" Rhodey said, to Tony ran his hand along his jaw. He highly doubted that she was just making words up, she wanted something, and she was trying to tell him.

"Here you go," Jen said interrupting his train of thought placing a large glass in front of him, he watched her distribute the drink to everyone, including Maria's apple juice which she brought in a sippy-cup.

"And for the little lady, Cheerios." Jen said, placing a small plastic bowl in front of Maria who let out an excited squeal and dumped her bowl. Tony could feel his jaw drop a little, Oohs were Cheerios? She wanted Cheerios?

"Oohhhs, Da-da, oohhhs!" Maria said, holding up her hand that had, Cheerios stuck to it. She happily stuck her hand in her mouth, munching away at them.

"Okay so are you ready to order?" Jen asked, pulling out her pen and paper, a large smile on her face. Tony tightened his jaw, slightly embarrassed he couldn't figure it out him self.


	4. Chapter 4

A really short Chapter!

Thank you so much for the reviews! They really make my day!

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"Da-da, noooo, noooo!" Maria said softly, as Tony placed her into her bed. He couldn't help but chuckle at his daughter, who fought to stay awake, her eye lids fluttering shut, against her will. This was usually the same routine every night. They would play for about an hour before bed, so when it was actually time to tuck Maria in, she would pass out quickly.

"Good night, Pumpkin!" Tony said, brushing her black hair on her forehead, she yawned shaking her head no, before completely falling into a deep sleep. It had only been a few weeks since, she first said Da-da, and Ooohs but now she had added a few more words; Ma-ma, no, and mine. Pepper was floored when Maria called her Ma-ma, and Tony could have swore he saw a few tears water up in her eyes. Honestly, Tony would have it no other way. Pepper was a great parent, spending hours playing with Maria, and trying to teach her new words. Now they were just waiting to see what she would call Rhodey.

Flicking lights off as he went, Tony made his way to bed, which was just down the hall from Maria's room. Extremely tired he stripped him self down to his underwear throwing him self onto the bed.

"Jarvis, lights!" Tony ordered, waiting for the flick of darkness, but fell asleep before he could register it. Normally he would spend a few more hours in the shop, but to night he was overwhelmingly tired.

A few hours later, Tony was woken up by screaming. At first he couldn't register what the sound was, until he heard the familiar "Da-da" being screamed into the darkness. Terrified that something was wrong, he jumped out of his bed and ran down the hall to his daughter in the darkness. The flashes, of thunder and lighting up the hallway every few seconds.

When Tony swerved into his daughters bed room, she suddenly let out another terrified bloody, heart wreathing scream. The closer Tony got, the more distressed she sounded. Screaming out no, and Da-Da. Another flash of light lit up the room, followed by a clap of thunder. For a split second Tony could see the fear on his daughters face, her eyes on him, which was strange because the room was pitch black. Suddenly the thoughts clicked in his mind. She was terrified of the arc reactor! She didn't know it was him!

"Jarvis lights!" He yelled, the lights flickered on seconds later, Tony cringed not use to the brightness. Maria was sitting against the wall her rabbit pulled into her chest. Rivers of tears were running down her face. Tony could feel his heart break a little at the sight of his daughter curled up, shaking in fear. He didn't blame her, the reactor would be pretty scary to a child.

"It's just Daddy, Maria it's okay!" He softly, spoke sitting on the bed, trying not to scare her more then she already was. Her eyes glanced from his face, to his chest where the reactor was glowing faintly.

"Look Maria, it won't hurt you!" He said running his hand over the metal in his chest. Her eyes studied the piece untrustingly, she didn't understand why such a thing would be attached to her father, and why she had never seen it before. Another flash and clap of thunder echoed threw the room, sending Maria into another crying fit.

"Da-da!" She cried, out with her grabby hands, she was too scared to move so Tony crawled across her mattress. He scooped her up in his arms when he reached her.

"Its okay Pumpkin, Daddy's got you." He said, kissing the top of her head. She continued to cry for a few minutes until she fell asleep. He held her for a few more minutes, making sure that she was fully asleep, before tucking her back into her covers.

"Lights off, Jarvis." Tony said softly exiting the room, and back into his . Once again he flopped him self down on his bed. The storm flashed threw the room, lighting up the vast space. He waited for a few minutes to make sure he didn't hear crying; the house was silent. Closing his eyes, he waited for sleep to take him.

"Da-da?" He heard, the patter of feet in the hallway, as his child made her way into his room. She stopped standing at his door way. Her tiny shadow would have been barely noticeable, to anyone who wasn't looking.

"Come here, Pumpkin." Tony said, when another flash of light bounced threw the room. Maria's feet quickly pattered across the floor, and with little difficulty, she pulled her self onto his bed. She crawled over to Tony, quickly settling in his awaiting arms. He kissed the top of her head once more before he fell back into a deep sleep. He knew Maria was safe, and that was more then enough for him.


	5. Chapter 5

I hate short chapters, I really do!

Thanks again for the reviews!

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The heat had finally gotten to Tony, so he quickly ran out one morning and bought a bunch of pool toys for Maria. He also bought a small floating chair, he could sit Maria in, so he could swim around the pool with her. At first Maria wanted to take her stuffed rabbit in with her, and put up a fuss when her father wouldn't let her. Tony placed it on the side of the pool, so she could see it. The plan worked, and she soon forgot about her stuffed animal. But one problem led to another, because Maria would pull her hat off every few minutes, only for Tony to place it back on her head.

But other then that, she was loving the water, splashing and giggling when her father grabbed her floaty. Tony had also discovered that she didn't like the feel of his facial hair. She would giggle and turn her face away in an attempt to escape the ticklish feeling on her skin. He found no better reason to kiss her.

This was exactly what Tony, was doing when Pepper opened the door and shuffled her way out side. Maria's giggles were loud and clear. Pepper held a small camera in her hands, and quickly snapped a picture. She had seen the two from inside, and thought it would make a great picture. She shut off the camera and walked to the edge of the pool.

"Hey Pepper, you should join us!" Tony said, when he realized she was standing on the edge of the pool. She was watching, both of them with a smile on her face.

"Not today!" Pepper said, shielding her eyes from the sun. Maria pulled her hat off, throwing it a very short distance. It quickly soaked up water, and slowly started to sink to the bottom of the pool. Tony grabbed the hat before it could sink any deeper. He was going to put the hat back on Maria's head when he noticed she was shivering slightly.

"I think that's enough of the pool for one day, Pumpkin." He said, pulling him self and his daughter towards the steps of the pool. Pepper quickly grabbed towels and waited at the stairs for them. Tony pried the blowup toy from around his daughters waste, tossing it back in the pool to float away.

"We need to talk, when you get the chance." Pepper said, handing the first towel to Tony. Which he used to wrap his daughter in. Pepper handed him the second one when he was finished.

"How about, now?" He asked, setting Maria down on the ground wrapping the towel around him self. Pepper looked at him oddly, before realizing he was serious. He wanted to have a meeting in his swim shorts!

"Umm, okay?" She said, placing her hand on her forehead, trying to remember what she had to talk to Tony about. "M.I.T would like to know, if your going to the…"

"Only if we can find someone to watch Maria!" He said, as he ran his hand threw his wet hair. Pepper scribbled on her clipboard, the camera dangling from her wrist. "I'll talk to them, see if Maria can come." Pepper said, bringing her eyes up from the sheet she was writing on.

Suddenly Pepper's face turned ghost white. Tony turned around to see what Pepper was looking at, when he saw his daughter standing dangerously close to the pool. She was holding her rabbit in her hands, and she wasn't paying attention to what she was doing. Tony suddenly ran towards his daughter yelling her name, as she walked closer to the edge of the pool. Maria looked up for a split second, and tipped over her towel, falling into the pool. Pepper started to scream, and Tony could barely register what was going on. He jumped into the pool quickly, grabbing his daughter who had sunk to the bottom. Pulling her out with a sharp tug, he was positive the tug had hurt her.

When Maria surfaced she looked around wildly, coughing. Tears brimming in the corner of her eyes, she let off a loud terrified wail. Tony's heart was still thumping wildly in his chest, as he held his daughter. He too could feel the tears in the corner of his eyes. He came to the realization that, if Pepper didn't see Maria, he might have lost her. She was the only thing that meant more then the world to him.


	6. Chapter 6

Thank you for the reviews :)

* * *

Maria had woken up cranky, and was pretty much miserable. She fought when she needed a change, refused to eat anything but Cheerios, and would scream when Tony tried to pick her up. He figured that her actions were a result of her falling into the pool only 24 hours ago.

He watched from a distance, as Maria picked up a toy and launched it across the room violently. The toy didn't make it far, but it still made a loud noise as it hit the ground with a crunching thud. Unsatisfied with her previous attempt, she picked up another toy and launched it across the room, landing on the carpet. She became flustered and frustrated, and quickly ran over to the toy picking it up, violently smashing it off the cement with her hand. The plastic toy cracked, sending a loud echo threw the large garage.

"Maria, no. Don't break your toys!" Tony said, placing the wrench he was holding on the table. He was reaching for another tool when Maria lifted the already cracked toy, and slammed it into the cement again. Another loud crack echoed through the garage.

"Maria!" Tony sternly said, as she ignored him slamming the toy, back into the cement. Tony dropped everything he was doing, and walked over to Maria, grabbing the toy from her small hands. She let out a frustrated squeal, grabbing for the toy he had taken away.

"Maria! Maria!" Tony said, watching his daughter fight for the toy. She was trying to harshly pull it out of his hands. "Look at me!" He said, as she continued to struggle. He was frustrated, Maria wasn't listening! Gently grabbed her small arm to try and grab her attention.

Tony was unprepared for what his daughter would do next. She jerked her body violently away from him, and threw herself harshly onto the floor, and began to scream. The sound was honestly terrifying to Tony, as his daughter squirmed on the floor. Her arms and legs were stretched out as she wailed. All attempts to pick her up failed, as she stiffened out her body, giving him no safe grip of her.

The loud click of heals could be heard, as Pepper entered the shop. She quickly placed all of her things on a table, and making her way over to Tony and Maria.

"I don't know what's wrong, Pepper!" Tony said, as he shielded his ears from the screaming. Pepper, her face scrunched in concern, then pulled off her red heals. She sat them down on the rug, and then crawled with difficulty over to Maria.

"Maria?" Pepper asked, trying to pick up the screaming child. It took Pepper a few minutes, of very soft talking to get Maria to allow her touch. Maria continued to cry in her arms, as Pepper gently shushed her in a loving, motherly manner.

Maria had finally stopped crying, when she pulled away from Pepper. Her face was red, and puffy from her tantrum. A soft smile spread across Pepper's face, as she gently pushed the soft black hair, out of Maria's eyes. A small hiccup echoed through Maria's body, as she stood slightly exhausted.

"There we go, dry those tears, princess." Pepper said, as she gently wiped tears off of Maria's puffy, red cheeks. Maria suddenly leaned forward at an awkward angle, and emptied all the contents in her stomach into Pepper's lap. An awkward silence hung in the air. Tony and Pepper were both in shock over what had happened.

The smell of fresh puke, hung heavily around Pepper's nose, she quickly pinched her nose and looked away from her lap. She could feel her stomach start to churn, as the hot mess on her lap slowly started to seep through her skirt, and onto her legs.

Tony pushed himself off the ground, grabbing a towel from the kitchen and running over to Pepper, trying to clean the matter from her skirt. Pepper's face still remained looking at the ceiling as Tony tired to finish the job quickly as possible.

Maria watched as her parents fussed over the mess she made. Slowly sitting down on the ground, she started to cry. Tony struggled to move faster, so he could take care of his daughter.

"Tony, it's alright, tend to Maria." Pepper said firmly, her fingers still tightly clutching her nose. Tony stopped cleaning the mess off of Pepper's skirt to look at her.

"Are you..." Pepper suddenly cut him off, giving him a very stern look. Maria was sick, and needed tending to; she could clean the puke from her own skirt, once she got over the smell. Tony nodded his head, leaving the towel in Pepper's lap, and then crawled over to Maria.

Maria's cries, were not as loud as before, but there were loud enough to cause a thumping pain in the temples of Tony's skull. Ignoring Maria's attempts to squirm away from him, he pressed his large hand to her forehead, checking for a fever. Her forehead was burning hot. A sudden wave of fear weaved through Tony's body. Maria was, very seriously ill.

Tony found himself on auto pilot. He made his way to the other side of the room, opening a cupboard, and pulling out a first aid kit that had a thermometer in it. Pulling the cap off, he gently placed under her armpit. She continued to cry, as Tony impatiently waited for the beep, the groans of Pepper in the background.

_Beep Beep _

Tony swiftly pulled the device out from under her arm, and read the black digital numbers that flashed on the screen. He could feel his chest tighten when the numbers registered in his head. Her temperature was way too high!

"Pepper, we have to take Maria to a hospital!" He yelled over his crying daughter. Pepper looked up from the almost clean mess on her skirt with alarm. Thousands of thoughts skimming threw her head.

"I'll call Happy!" She yelped, pushing herself off of the ground and running towards her cell phone. Tony gently slid his hands under his daughter's arms and lifted her up, pulling her snuggly into his chest.

"Happy will be here in ten minutes!" Pepper said, running past Tony to grab the baby bag, and stuff it full with things they might need.

"It's okay Maria, Daddy's got you. " Tony said, soothingly to his daughter, rubbing her small back, her little hands gripped tightly onto his shirt. A deep sigh came from his daughter, and suddenly she was silent.

"Is she sleeping?" Tony asked, turning himself so Pepper could see Maria's face. Pepper shook her head, slipping across the room and picking up Maria's stuffed rabbit, stuffing it limply into the bag she had slung over her shoulder.

"Hey sweetie, what cha' doing?" Pepper asked, rubbing Maria's back, Maria turned her head away from Pepper, stuffing her burning skin into Tony's neck, quickly placing her thumb into her mouth.

"Happy, should be here!" Pepper said, handing Tony the bag around her shoulder, then looked down at her skirt. "I'll meet you at the hospital, first I have to change." She said with a small smile on her face. The skirt she was wearing was now ruined.

"Okay, call me before hand and I'll let you know what room we're in!" Tony said, shifting Maria in his arms, moving what little blood flow he had around.

The ride to the doctors was one of the longest in his life, but nothing could have seemed longer then the first time he was on his way to the hospital to meet his daughter. A different fear was running threw his veins; he needed to know if his daughter would be okay.

When Happy opened the door, he could feel the cold rush of air enter the warm car. Maria stirred pulling her body closer to Tony, he could already feel the drool seeping into his shirt, but at the moment didn't really care. Sliding out of the car was quite difficult with Maria tightly tucked into his shoulder, luckily Happy helped pulling Tony out of the car.

The hospital doors were glass and swished open when you approached. The hospital had been set up in such a way that the nurse's office was only a few feet away from the door. So he quickly received attention when he walked in.

A tall thin, blond nurse quickly approached him. Asking him if everything was all right annoyed, he simply responded 'no'. Asking someone if they were okay when they entered a hospital was stupid. Healthy people did not just walk into a hospital for kicks.

"She has a high fever!" Tony snapped, annoyed to the nurse, who squinted her face in annoyance with the tone Tony was taking with her. The woman continued to babble nonce, and he was getting quickly getting impatient with the woman.

"What going on here?" a short fat woman asked, dressed in scrubs. Tony was extremely angry that the woman he was talking to had failed to get anywhere close to getting his daughter medical attention.

"My daughter needs medical attention!" He snapped, at the short woman who looked quite shocked to be spoken to in such a manner. She placed her hand on her chest and diverted her eyes to the tall blond standing in front of Tony.

"Well then," the fat woman said with a glare, "follow me, and I'll see what we can do." She quickly turned on her heal, and wobbled down the hallway. Tony impatiently followed, behind her, swerving down the hallways. She stopped at glass door, and slid it open with a swift flick of her wrist.

The room was smaller than most, it had two chairs in it, a window and a large check up bed, and a computer. "I'm Doctor Clover." The woman said pulling a fresh piece of paper onto the bed. The loud crinkling echoed through the room.

"Tony Stark," He said simply, rubbing Maria's back as she started to squirm a bit. The woman nodded her head, she knew who he was, and introductions were only out of politeness. The cubby woman made her way over to the computer flicking it on. The screen flicked as it started to load up.

"And what's your daughter's name Mr. Stark?" The doctor asked, sliding the pointer across the screen opening a program and waiting for him to answer.

"Maria Elizabeth Stark." He said, watching the woman type in her name, and pull up a single file on the computer. For a few seconds she read what the long list of medical problems his daughter had, and she let out a sigh, then shapely swerved her chair around.

"So what can I do for you Mr. Stark?" She said watching him, rub his daughters back. Tony could feel the previous anger with the other nurse build up in his stomach. But decided that maybe it was best to keep it to himself.

"Maria has a fever, and she's been throwing up." He said simply, studying the fat woman as she rubbed her face. She kicked her feet off the floor and scooted herself across the room, opening a drawer and pulling out a strange looking device.

"Maria is slightly def, and with children with ear injuries, or complications they get ear infections very, easily." The woman said, approaching Tony and moving small bits of hair from Maria's ear, and looked into them, mumbling something before pulling the device away from her ear.

"I'm guessing, you have taken her swimming in the past 48 hours?" She asked, walking across the room and opening another drawer and rummaging through it. Tony's chest twisted, his first assumption was right. This was a result of the pool incident. He could only mutter out a quite yes, hating himself for allowing something like this to happen to his daughter.

"Your daughter has an ear infection, she will be fine Mr. Stark! I'll give you a prescription for the ear infection. If her fever gets any worse bring her back to the hospital immediately." She warned pointing her finger harshly at him; suddenly she gave him a small smile. "Cheer up Mr. Stark; it's not your fault. Things like this happen even to the best of parents."


	7. Chapter 7

The medicine the doctor had administered worked, and Tony was very grateful that the medicine tasted like Bananas because he had no problem what so ever admonishing it to her. In two weeks time Maria was back to her normal self, playing with her stuffed rabbit, and demanding Cheerios. He decided to avoid the pool with Maria for just a little bit longer, and Pepper couldn't agree more.

Tony watched from his work bench as Maria pulled her bundles of stuffed animals into her small plastic play house, occasionally dropping a few of them and turning around, with the bundles in her hands to attempt to pick them up. After a few minutes Maria would get frustrated and carry what she had into the house, before coming back out and picking the left over handful up.

When she was finished, carrying every single stuffed toy she had into the house, she struggled to close the door. A small laugh left Tony's lips as he listened to her thumping around in the small house. He was extremely curious as to what his daughter was actually doing. So he snuck over to the small house and peered into the window.

Maria was crouched in her mountain of stuffed animals, holding her rabbit looking around quite clueless. He figured she had forgotten her plan when she had finished moving the massive amounts of toys into the house. She finally gave up trying to remember and started playing with her rabbit, lifting his legs above her head.

Another short laugh left Tony's lips, drawing attention to himself. Maria looked out the window and started to babble to him, pointing in no general direction.

"What are you doing in there Maria?" he asked realizing that he now had her full attention. She quickly pushed herself off the mountain of stuffiness and made her way over to Tony and begun to pass him things out of the window. He wasn't quite sure what it meant, but he continued to laugh as she handed him different toys. It didn't take long for Tony to have his own large pile of animals.

Maria seemed to think this was the perfect amount he needed, and pushed her way out to him, crawling across the massive selection of toy and into his lap. Her tiny body was warm, and she smelt faintly of fresh diapers, with baby powder. Tony loved the smell of baby powder, and he didn't realize it until after he had a daughter.

The hiss of the door was heard; stiffly Tony turned his head to see who had walked in. Rhodey was standing stiffly at the door in his work uniform, peering over the tables until he finally spotted Tony sitting on the ground.

"Hey, Tony!" He said, his boots were loud on the cement floor when he was making his was over to the small family on the floor.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, confused that his friend had showed up unexpected. A look of frustration crossed his face, he should have been used to this by now, but Rhodey couldn't help but feel a little annoyed when his friend had forgotten important details.

"You and Pepper have an important meeting tonight. I'm here to baby sit Maria." Rhodes said, sharply to his friend who rubbed the back of his head. Tony thought that was next week, Rhodes clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"The meetings at 6' O clock, Come on Tony, don't tell me you forgot!" Rhodes said, shuffling his body around on the cement, almost animal like.

"I didn't forget; I was just distracted!" Tony said, waving his hand in a lame manner. Rhodey gave him a look that clearly said 'Yeah, right."

"Any way," Tony said pulling Maria into his chest, so he could stand up with her in his arms. "Enjoy." He said handing his daughter off to Rhodey who looked quite uncomfortable to holding Maria.

Rhodey didn't hold Maria very often because usually when he did she would start crying. To avoid this Tony quickly left the room to run up stairs to get dressed.

"Uh, hi?" Rhodey said, to Maria who was giving him a strange look. He wasn't quite sure if it was a look of disgust or confusion. Maria squirmed a bit, turning herself so she could look at her play area. Her soft blue eyes studied the ground. She babbled unfamiliar words, and pointed to the grey bunny she usually carried around.

"Do you want that?" Rhodey asked when she turned around to look at him, a look of determination on her face. He laughed, when she responded with her previous actions, as well as shouting out mine.

"Okay then," Rhodey said walking to the toy, and twisting awkwardly so he could pick it up, while holding onto Maria at the same time. When he was done he handed the rabbit to Maria who seemed to snatch the rabbit from his hands.

"Now what do you say?" He asked, watching Maria pull her rabbit to her chest in a protective manner, her light blue eyes skimming from the rabbit to Rhodey who was speaking to her. A look of confusion crossed her face, before she turned back to her rabbit ignoring anything Rhodey had to say to her. Rhodey let out a short laugh, bouncing her a bit to pull her into a more comfortable position by his hip.

"Let's get you something to eat." Rhodey said taking Maria with him as he made his way to the kitchen up stairs. Even if Tony kept food for Maria in the downstairs kitchen, he would much rather be up stairs. It was weird to be in Tony's garage without him.

The upstairs was pretty much silent, but the rushing sound of water hung in the background. Maria looked around the room lazily, studying everything around her. It wasn't like she hadn't been in this part of the house before. So Rhodey figured she was looking for Tony.

Tony's kitchen had always seemed unused before Maria, but now the kitchen sink had a few dishes in them, and containers of empty cans littered the counter. The faint smell of burnt food, and baby food hung in the air. The sight almost made Rhodey laugh, because he thought he would never see the day a room in Tony's house would see the chaos of a child.

Rhodey pulled out Maria's high chair that was hand made from a dark red wood, and her name was carved into the back of the chair, in a cursive font. Rhodey really had no idea what kind of wood it was, but the chair its self was quite beautiful.

"Here we go!" Rhodey said slipping Maria into her high chair, she was looking at him curiously, her fingers in her mouth, chewing and sucking away. Rhodey turned away from Maria opening the cupboards and searching for anything Maria could eat.

Rhodey didn't know what was more surprising, the fact that Tony had a kitchen stocked full of food, or that Maria had a whole cupboard filled with boxes of cheerios and 'baby' appropriate food. He grabbed the first box in sight; Kraft Dinner, and started cooking.

Loud thumping came from the stairs as Tony entered the room pulling his suite jacket on, quickly buttoning it up, and tugging the wrinkles out. Maria swung around her chair, looking at her father curiously, her fingers hanging out of her mouth.

"You have my number right?" Tony asked, Rhodey looking at him quite seriously. This was the first time Tony would be leaving Maria alone, and the idea terrified him. What if she needed him, or if something happened to Rhodey, or… his thoughts were cut off when Rhodey gave him a stern look and answered "I've always have your number."

"Her favorite show is Blue's clues, there is a couple saved on the T.V. She likes to eat Cheerios when she watches it. She hates it when you turn it up real loud, so volume level 12 is too much. Oh and –"

"Tony, go to your meeting, I think I have it covered." Rhodey said, stopping Tony in mid sentence. Tony's face was a little red from embarrassment, he knew he was over reacting to the situation, but he couldn't help it. He would _die _if anything happened to her.

"Okay!" He said walking over to Maria who followed his movement. Tony crouched down so his face was level with Maria's and she seemed to be enjoying the attention.

"I'll see you later baby girl." He said softly to her, grabbing her chubby cheeks and planting a few kisses on his daughter's cheeks. She let out a muffled giggle when his lips made contact with her cheeks. It was his facial hair; it was always his facial hair.

Rhodey studied the scene, which on its own seemed to be unbelievable. Just the look on Tony's face alone was enough to prove to any one that Tony Stark had a heart, and Maria owned every single little bit of it.

"I love you baby girl!" Tony said patting her head gently. A deep sigh left his lips as he turned to look at Rhodey. Silence sat between them for a few seconds. "Okay I'm going!" Tony snapped lifting his hands above his head and walking out of the kitchen to disappear into the abyss of the house.

Maria didn't seem to mind that her father had left, but then again she probably didn't understand that he left the house, and wasn't just in one of the vast amounts of room in the house. Once again the two sat in silence as Rhodey spooned the orange noodles into her mouth. This didn't last very long because Maria decided that she wanted to feed herself, and did so in a very awkward manner.

Bored, Rhodey shifted in his chair, causing his name tag to flash under the kitchen light. Maria suddenly lost all interest in eating and launched herself forward grabbing onto the plate pinned to his chest and examined it.

"It says Rhodes, that's my name!" Rhodey said, pulling the name tag out of Maria's hand gently. She spit out a little of her food watching the name tag intently. Rhodey laughed at her reaction, picking up the utensil she was using and helped her to eat a little more.

Maria held her mouth closed tightly, turning her head away from the spoon. She was officially done, and wouldn't allow Rhodey to feed her anymore. Rhodey placed the spoon back in the bowl, and gently placed it down onto the counter beside him.

"Let's get you cleaned up then." He said to Maria as he moved his way around the kitchen, pulling a fresh clean baby cloth from one of the draws and wetting it with warm water, squeezing it out to make sure it was damp.

Actually cleaning Maria's face was a hard task, she wiggled around in her chair, in attempt to keep the cloth away from her skin. Rhodey prevailed, since Maria couldn't actually go anywhere. Once her face was clean he picked her up and headed towards the living room.

The living room was no longer a fancy organized bachelor pad, now it had toys scattered around the room. Most of them placed in a bin at the end of the long couch Rhodey placed Maria down beside her toys where she instantly started to dig through the large bucket, pulling out toys and dropping them on the floor.

She finally discovered a stuffed cow, which had a small string with a small hoop attached to it. Rhodey watched her as she studied the cow her little fingers pinching at the small hoop. She didn't understand that pulling the string would get the cow to Moo. He remembered that when he was younger he had one quite similar.

Maria's tiny fingers finally looped threw the ring and she pulled on the string, releasing it violently. The cow almost instantly started to Moo, scaring Maria. She tossed the toy to the ground after a loud shriek came from her tiny body, then began crying.

"Oh, it's okay Maria it's only a toy!" Rhodes said, rushing over to her and picking her up. She continued to cry as Rhodes tried to comfort her, and he could feel the frustration of a parent start to settle in. It seemed that no matter what he tried he couldn't get her to stop.

Rhodey tried to think back to what his mother use to do when his sister would cry. He had already tried talking to Maria, rubbing her back and talking sweetly to her. The only thing left was to sing to her. Rhodey suddenly felt embarrassment creep up his face. If there was anything in this world he could not do it was sing.

Another wail erupted from Maria, and Rhodey suddenly blurted out the words to 'Hey Jude'. It started off something along the lines of;

"Hey um, Jude, don't make it bad?

Take a um, sad song and make it butter…better

Ah, remember to let her into your heart,

Then you can start to feel better?'

Maria's slowly started to calm down, a soft smile spread across his lips. He started to rub her back as he continued to sing the rest of the song, only messing up a few lines. But Maria didn't seem to care, when he was finished she rested her head into the crook of his neck and sighed, exhausted from her tears. They stayed like this for a few moments, in complete silence as Rhodey rocked her gently back and forth as he stood.

Maria pulled away from his neck, and very seriously looked at him and said "Odie". Rhodey could feel an over whelming sense of pride that he was now accepted by Maria, even if she had deemed him to be named 'Odie'.

* * *

When Pepper and Tony came home that night, it was quite late and hours passed Maria's bed time. The meeting had been useless, and Tony felt as if he hadn't accomplished anything at all. He felt as if he had spent his whole afternoon talking to morons. The first thing he did when he got home was walk to the kitchen to grab something to drink. He didn't even get the can open, when Pepper came running into the room grabbing his arm shapely and pulling him to the living room.

"Pepper what are yo-" Pepper shushed him and pointed to the living room, a small dreamy smile on her face. Annoyed with her he looked into his living room to see Rhodey asleep on the couch fast asleep, with Maria curled up on his chest. Rhodey's hand was protectively placed on the back of his daughter.

"I can't let him live this down!" Tony said quickly making his way out of the room to grab a camera.


	8. Chapter 8

"Uh-oh, uh-oh!" Was Maria's new 'thing', she had picked it up from Pepper who would say it to Maria when, Maria spit her food up on her clothing. Maria had also learned that "Uh-oh" also applied to a whole bunch of different things. For example, when Daddy dropped one of his big tools on his foot, he would swear loudly. Maria would respond "Uh-oh Da-da, Uh oh!" This made him feel a little better about his situation, but it had failed to take the throbbing pain in his foot go away.

Tony's favorite 'Uh-oh' moment was when he had given Maria a time out for hitting. He had placed his daughter on a chair and very carefully explained to her what she had done wrong, and that she would be allowed to get off the chair in two minutes, if she stayed on the chair.

Maria nodded her head understandingly and told him, "I uh-oh, I Uh-oh Da-da!" Tony had to hold his laughter in, because finding the situation funny would not make Maria understand hitting people was bad. But it didn't stop him from telling Pepper.

Tony had decided one afternoon that the living room seemed a great place to be. He and Pepper had to go over a lot of Paper work and the shop was the last place he wanted to spend hours signing stuff.

Maria didn't care that she wasn't in her normal play place, and seemed pretty happy studying a bottle of blue's clues bath soap that Pepper had bought her. The bottle its self was shaped like the dog 'Blue', Maria was convinced it was just a very heavy toy and tugged it around the living room.

"You missed this line here!" Pepper said handing the paper back to him, her finger pointed to the line he had miss. Annoyed, he grabbed the paper from her hands, and scribbled his signature on the line.

"Da-da!" Maria interrupted leaning against his leg. She had a toy in her hand and she shoved it very close to Tony's face. He jerked his head back so he could see what she was trying to show him. It was a yellow duck, which he had bought for the bathtub. He had no idea what it was doing down in the living room, but he assumed that Maria had grabbed it at some point, and he had just tossed it in the toy bin.

"Is that for me?" He asked putting his hand out for the toy. Maria placed the duck in his hand, and ran away quickly. Pepper let out a soft chuckle, then flashed Tony some more papers. Tony unhappily placed the duck on the table, grabbing the papers from Pepper's hand.

"I think we need a break!" He said, looking at Pepper with a keen eye. She shook her head no, harshly reading the next page she had in her hand. Tony wanted nothing more than to play with his daughter, and the paperwork was in his way.

"I think Maria, wants some body to play with!" Tony said, tossing the paper back down on the table. Pepper's eyes left what she was reading, and remained on Tony for a second. She was forming words in her head, and he knew she was going to shoot him some disapproving speech.

"I'm sure Maria, can play by herself for a little while longer!" Pepper said sternly giving Tony a very 'the look'. 'The look' meant that she wasn't going to fight with him any longer and that it would be in Tony's best interest to quit while he was ahead.

"How do we know that, she could be the silent type, doesn't like to tell people how she feels?" Tony said watching Pepper roll her head along her shoulders. A scowl on her face, she wouldn't admit it, but Tony's offer was very tempting, but the paper work really had to be filled out. It was due tomorrow, and Tony didn't seem to care.

"She's like her father; she will let us know when she wants something!" Pepper said. Tony could feel a smile creep across his face. Pepper was right; Maria did let people know when she wanted to play, and when she wanted to be left alone she would scream or try to shove them. This had earned her time outs in the past, and would continue to do so for a long time.

His daughter was very much like him, she had the same eyes, messy black hair, but she looked like his mother. He was very happy for this because it would have been very hard to look at his daughter and see her mother. He never understood how someone could do that to their own child. The thought had occurred to him a lot, more so when he was watching his daughter fall asleep. She was so innocent.

Tony vaguely remembered actually sleeping with her mother, but after the court appearances and seeing her numerous of times. Her image and her boyfriend's would forever be burned into his brain. She was a tiny woman, pretty woman, with curly brown hair and brown eyes. She use to be a model before she had Maria and met her boyfriend. Her boyfriend on the other hand, was probably much older than Tony himself, had long gray hair that was tied back, and carried a large gut around his waist. His face was hard, cruel, and uncaring. He remembered when they carried out this sentence he merely just chewed the tobacco in his mouth and shrugged his shoulders.

It made Tony so angry that the man didn't care that he almost launched himself across the room and killed the man. If Rhodey hadn't held him back he would have done it. If Rhodey didn't, he probably would be sitting in prison, and Maria would be in a home with another family.

But the thing that worried him the most was how he would explain to Maria about her mother, because he knew one day she would ask, why Pepper wasn't really her Mommy, or why Pepper didn't stay with him. He didn't understand how you would explain to a child about an abusive mother, and how her mother was in prison. How he wished Pepper was really the mother of his child.

"You okay?" Pepper asked, interrupting his thought. Tony jumped, tightening his finger around the pen in his hand. By the look on Pepper's face he had been zoned out for a while. He nodded his head before signing the paper work. If he hurried up he could play with Maria for the rest of the day. That or hold her for a bit, because he suddenly found the urge to hold her.

It had taken Tony another thirty minutes before him and Pepper had both finished with the massive amounts of work. Tony stretched his arms over his head, cracking a few bones in his back. Pepper smiled at him, hitting the bottom of the papers off the table, and then slipping them into her bag, so she could drop them off at work later.

"You can play with your daughter now if you wish, Mr. Stark!" Pepper said with a laugh. A small chuckle came from Tony as he rested his arms on his lap.

"Would you care to join me, Miss. Pots?" He asked, she laughed snapping her bag shut, turning her body on the couch. Tony found himself fighting the urge to kiss Pepper, as she sat very 'lady like' on the couch. Her cheeks flushed a little pink from his previous comment. He liked it when she blushed; he thought it was, cute.

"Sir, I do believe that there is something wrong with the fountain." Jarvis spoke loudly threw the silent room. Tony scrunched his face up in annoyance. There couldn't be anything wrong with the fountain; he could hear it running all afternoon.

"Jarvis there is nothing wron-" Tony stopped in mid sentence as he looked at his water fountain. He was right about it still running, but the small pool at the bottom of the fountain was covered in at least three feet of bubbles. Maria was standing a few feet away from the bubbles the Blue's clues bubble bath bottle in two pieces, and a small pile of bubbles on her head.

As soon as Maria realized Tony was looking at her, she shyly showed him the empty bottle that was drizzling the left over bubble soap. "Uh-oh, Da-da Uh-oh!" she said placing the bottle on the ground. Tony ran his hand threw his hair, how in the world did she get the bottle open, let alone pour the whole thing in the fountain without him noticing?

"Pepper!" He said, his mouth still open in awe. She shifted on the couch in just as much awe over the sight. He could hear her clear her throat before stuttering out, 'Yes, Tony?"

"Make sure I never let Maria play with bubble bottles, ever again!" He said watching the bubble pile grow larger and larger. How in the hell were they going to clean this all up?

"Yes, Tony!" Pepper choked, watching Maria run over to the both of them empty handed. She stopped at Pepper know she was in a lot of trouble, and flashed Pepper her blue eyes.

"Uh-oh Ma-ma, uh-oh!" Maria said pointing to the water fall which continued to build its large bubble mass.

"A really, really big uh-oh!" Pepper said, grabbing the little girl and gently pulling her closer to her. No matter how cute Maria was, Pepper couldn't let her get away with this. Even if putting her on a time out killed her a little in the inside. It always made Pepper feel like the bad guy. But today, maybe being a bad guy was a good thing, if they wouldn't have to clean a mess up like this one.


	9. Chapter 9

**Looking for a beta.**

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Very rarely did Maria have a day where she was so cranky that she wouldn't allow anyone to do anything with her. These days were the days that everyone dread, because they were worse then horrible. Maria on a bad day was down right chaos in the house.

She would scream, kick, hit, throw things, and bite. The biting was the worst possible thing she could do, next to her ear piercing scream. Her scream was horrible, even when she was excited. But lately Maria had been using her teeth to get her message across, her little teeth were extremely sharp, at first she didn't bite hard enough to puncture the skin, but over time she learned the harder she clenched her teeth the more damage done. Tony had the misfortune of being the first one who had to experience the sharp pinch of her teeth; it had earned her a time out, which had only seemed to make her angrier.

Pepper and Tony had never seen such furry built up inside of a tiny creature; it in fact was so terrifying that Pepper made a quick phone call to Maria's psychologist. The doctor had explained to Pepper that they needed to find a positive and nurturing way to bring Maria back down to earth. She was too young to express her feeling through words, but loving and caring actions would help improve the situation.

Pepper and Tony had tired just about everything to clam Maria down, and every single idea had failed. Even giving Maria, her stuffed rabbit had failed. The only thing that the rabbit had accomplished was Maria having a partner in crime, and taking away her best friend was like cutting Maria's life line. Taking the rabbit away had gotten Maria so angry that she had trouble breathing, terrified she might killer her self, Tony shoved the rabbit back into her hands before she passed out due to lack of oxygen. It was silently agreed that they would never take the rabbit away from her again.

Tony gracefully walked down the stairs to the garage, holding his squirming, and angry daughter. His face was tinted red from frustration of trying to think of an idea that would work, but he had failed to come up with anything.

He had tried, snuggling, a bath, cheerios, warm milk, singing, watching blues clues, and putting her down for a nap. He was convinced a nap would work but she had refused to sit still long enough to fall asleep. After an hour or trying to curl up with Maria he was bored, and frustrated. He carefully picked Maria up (avoiding contact with her mouth) and brought her back down into the garage, where Pepper was working on one of the computers.

"Did it work?" Pepper asked swerving the chair around when she hear Tony open the glass doors. Silently he placed his daughter on the play carpet shaking his head in disappointment, a deep sigh left Pepper's lips as she tucked a stray strand of red hair behind her ear.

"Maybe we should take her to the park?" Pepper asked, watching Maria stomp around her play area like she was some sort of dinosaur. Pepper half expected Maria to start smashing things, but she probably had yet to find a toy she wanted to smash up.

Tony ran his hand through his messy, black hair, he really didn't know what to do with her, but it couldn't help to try right? Maria loved the park, there was no doubt in his mind that it could possibly cheer her up, but getting here there was a problem. A big problem, someone was sure to get bitten, kicked or screamed at. Tony flinched as he rubbed the teeth shaped burse on his arm.

"Good idea, but how are we going to get her there without her killing us?" Tony asked, glancing at Pepper with a small grin on his face, Pepper had yet to be bitten, so he figured it was her turn to feel the wrath of Maria. Pepper shook her head in disapproval of his comment. If anything, Pepper knew, that Tony thought this situation was quite humorous, if Maria was like this as a toddler, she couldn't wait to see what she was like at sixteen. Maybe she would give Tony a run for his money.

"It didn't even break the skin!" Pepper snapped crossing her arms; she was annoyed that he kept brining the bite up, especially since Maria had bitten him two days ago. Tony had tired to get Pepper to kiss it better, like she did with Maria, Pepper of course refused, and if you asked her, Tony was asking for it! When Maria didn't want to play, she _didn't _want to play, and Tony seemed to think she would make an acceptation for him. She had gotten so flustered and upset with her father; she dug her teeth into his arm without as much as a second thought.

"But it hurt!" Tony whined playfully, holding out his arm for Pepper to see. She groaned turning on her heel and heading straight towards Maria who had her back turned to everyone.

"Pepper don't do it! She might eat you!" Tony laughed watching Pepper slowly slip her hands under Maria's armpits and picking her up. Peppers arms were shaking slightly; she was terrified that Maria might bite her.

"You can get the baby bag, Mr. Stark!" Pepper said triumphantly, making her way towards a baby approved car. With the very cranky Maria, who could explode any second!

* * *

"It's not funny Tony!" Pepper snapped, while she nursed a fresh bruise on her arm. Tony found it very funny that Pepper was the first person today who had received Maria's wrath. They both now had tiny matching teeth marks on their arms.

"Well Pepper, lets hope your plan works?" Tony said placing a very angry Maria in the sand box. She was wearing a small yellow dress, and a pink hat sat on her head to keep the sun out of her eyes. It had taken them both twenty minutes to get sunscreen on the struggling child, and Pepper pointed out that next time they should apply sunscreen on at home, so they could avoid the stares of on lookers.

Maria sat down on the ground pulling her hat off, which was quickly replaced by Tony, Tony could play this game all day and Maria knew it. So she quickly gave up, and left her hat on her head.

Tony gently placed his hand on his daughter's head, turning around to find where Pepper had wondered off too. He found her standing quite a distance away and talking to an older woman who was leaning on a blue baby carriage.

Tony could already feel his stomach twist in annoyance. He hated talking to other parents; on a normal basis he would avoid all contact with them. But today Maria was cranky and he knew she would be less fun then a parent bragging about their child, because he was convinced Maria was the best child in the whole entire universe, not only because she was a Stark, but because she was his daughter. Slowly Tony made his way over to the two women, and when he was with in ear shot, he realized they were talking about Maria.

"So how old is she?" The woman asked peering at Pepper threw her sun glasses as the carriage creaked under her weight. Pepper tilted her head, quickly doing the math in her head. On a normal basis they just told everyone she was a year, when in reality when was almost two. She would be twenty months in a few days. Tony already had tons of ideas for her first birthday with him, ideas Pepper wouldn't like.

"Almost twenty months." Pepper said looking up at Tony and gave him quick smile. The woman made a strange face, tilting her head back. She pushed the carriage out from under her weight, then pulling it back into her ribs. A small sleeping child was covered in the carriage but Tony didn't care about that, in fact he didn't care much about other parents. He found that they felt the need to give him advice, and Tony never took advice well. He found most of it to be stupid, and that it hardly related to the situation he had with his daughter.

"Those months are always the worst, well at least for me any way." The woman said, quickly skimming the play ground for her child then looking back at Tony, and Pepper.

"Why?" Pepper asked, crossing her arms, leaning forward a bit quite curious at what this woman had to say. Tony was also interested, but was watching his daughter play with a little blond boy, who was dumping sand on a toy train; he had brought to the park with him. He could all ready see a few people in the distance snapping pictures.

"Max, my son," she said pointing to the blond haired boy beside Maria, "Got into everything, and threw tantrums over everything!" She said pushing the carriage out once more, and pulling it into her chest.

"Really, how did you stop it?" Pepper asked rubbing the fresh teeth marks on her arms. The woman scrunched her face up, biting the corner of her lip, strands of her blond hair falling into her face.

This is about where Tony lost all interest in the conversation and watched Happy as he carefully scoped out the park. It usually took the press about twenty minutes to figure out Tony was in a very public place, and usually very few photographers showed up. Luckily they knew enough to keep their distance, the last thing any of them wanted was a lawsuit from Stark Enterprises.

Maria and Max were sitting in the sand piling bundles of sand onto Maria's feet. Max's were all ready covered, and he helped Maria cover what was left of her shoes with a purple shovel. Maria was holding a green shovel that she sat down once their pile of sand was complete.

The shovel sat on the ground for a total of fifteen seconds before a much lager boy came over, snatching the shovel from Maria's side. Maria noticed immediately, and she quickly turned her body to watch the boy walk away with the toy she was playing with. He half expected her to cry, but he didn't expect her to pull her feet out of the sand and stomp after the boy. It was at that moment Tony chose to intervene. He tired his hardest not to make a big scene as he carefully made his way over to his daughter who was attempting to pull the shovel out of the much larger boy's hands.

The boy's mother was also making her way over to the two children, fighting over the shovel. Tony was quite far away from his daughter when he saw her lean forward and without so much as second thought dug her teeth into the larger boys arm. Who wailed when Maria's sharp teeth dug into his flesh.

"Maria!" Tony yelled, running towards his daughter. He startled her, she quickly turned around to look up at him wide eyed, and terrified. She knew she was in trouble, and as much as Tony hated the look of fear on her face it was probably necessary to get to get her to stop biting people.

"Adam no!" The other woman yelled, suddenly the much larger boy grabbed Maria's arm and dug his teeth into Maria's arm. The other woman made it to the two before Tony, and quickly removed her son, from his screaming daughter's arms.

As soon as she was free she ran towards Tony, her arms up so he could easily pick her up. Which he did, pulling his daughter snuggling into his chest, where she cried. Tony now had a sneaking suspicion that his daughter wasn't going to bite anyone for a very long time.


	10. Chapter 10

**Looking for a beta.**

**

* * *

**There were some days where the stress was just too much to handle, so Tony would tuck Maria into be a little earlier then normal (not that she ever noticed) and just relaxed. He found it helped kept him level headed, and clam the next day. But on particularly hard days he would just take a really hot bath, and just think.

He would think about Maria, and how much she had improved in the very few months she had come to live with him. He would think about how much his daughter completed him, because he knew he could never love anyone as much as he loved his daughter, and he knew that no one could love him as much as she did. He finally understood what his mother use to tell him when he was younger and he insisted that children were disgusting.

"You will never understand the love of a child, until you have one!" His mother would say, shaking a finger at him. The crow's feet under her eyes making her smile warm and welcoming.

"You're only saying that because you're a woman, and women like babies, it's part of their genetic code!" was always Tony's response, and he stuck to that theory for most of his adult life too. Women liked babies, it was that simple. He would have never imagined he was completely wrong!

Tony ran his wet hand over his face, his shoulders were stiff from stress and the hot water was hardly helping him today. But in reality, what could hot water do to help him, not after what he had been told earlier this afternoon. This was probably one of the worst afternoons of his life, because he simply didn't know what to do now.

Today Maria had a doctor's appointment with a specialist, specifically a specialist that dealt with hearing loss. The doctor had been referred to him by a lady who worked for the C.A.S who also had a son with hearing problems. He honestly didn't know what to expect when he entered the clean office with Maria securely tucked on his hip, but he didn't expect what the doctor told him.

Maria's ears were badly damaged, he had never realized before how bad Maria's ears were before, and the more he thought about it the more he came to realize that there were some days when Maria didn't seem to under stand anything that was going on. The doctor suggested two 'solutions' that could fix Maria's problem and Tony didn't like either one of them. They were both complex, and he could see many complications in the end.

The first solution was Tony learn 'different ways to communicate with his daughter'. The doctor suggested that Tony learn American Sign Language and teach it to his daughter. Hearing aids would be available for his daughter, as well as special education plans, and more bull shit that Tony didn't care to hear.

The second option was a trial surgery that had only been 49% affective with children her age. He wasn't quite sure what the full details of the surgery were, but he knew that if it failed Maria's hearing would be worse then before, and that she would carry a bigger disability then before. But if it was successful, she could live a normal life, and have fewer complications with her hearing. Tony knew he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight, because there was no way he could stop thinking long enough.

The sudden patter of bare feet echoed in the large bathroom drawing Tony's attention. His eyes skimmed the bathroom, and stopped on Maria who was sitting on the tiled floor pulling her clothing off. She was almost completely naked and was trying to pull her pajama top off.

He figured she must have stripped down in her room, because there were no pants, or diaper on the floor of the bathroom. When she had completed her mission, she quickly made her way to the tub, checking on the shirt behind her. She stopped at the rim of the tub and lifted her arms up.

"You should be in bed!" Tony said, watching her make her grabby hands. He thought about just putting her back into bed, but the looks she was giving him could have made the Grinch say yes. Tony slid his hands under her arm pits and pulled her into the bathtub with him. She immediately started playing with one of his shampoo bottles, trying to hold the bottle underwater. She laughed when the bottle shot out of the water, making water splash into their faces.

"You think that's funny?" Tony asked, watching Maria push the shampoo bottle underwater again. She looked up at him and responded very softly, "Yeah", before releasing the bottle again, water splashed everywhere. Tony laughed, when she squealed happily, and grabbed for the bottle that had escaped her grasp.

"Maria, watch this!" Tony said, reaching for an empty bottle on the side of the tube and snapping the top back, he held the bottle under water, and Maria watched intently as bubbles started to float to the surface quickly.

When the bottle was full Tony pulled it to the surface and squeezed the bottle allowing warm water to hit her. She squealed, in delight and grabbed for the bottle Tony was holding.

"What do you say?" Tony asked pulling the bottle out of her reach. Maria scrunched her face up, looking at Tony intently. He wasn't sure what she was doing, but he knew it was hilarious. She looked angry!

"Peas?" Maria asked her face still scrunched up, Tony was holding his sides he was laughing so hard. "Peas?" Maria asked again, this time in a deeper voice. The pain in his chest was unbearable, so he handed the bottle to her, so she would stop making the face.

It took Tony quite a few minutes to clam down, and when he reached reality, Maria was on the other side of the tub. Studying the top of the bottle, she was trying to squeeze the sides hard enough for the water to come out. When she failed she simply held the bottle upside down, and watched it pour back into the tub in gobs.

She copied what Tony did, holding the bottle underwater to fill it back up. She used a wet hand to move the hair out of her face; Tony caught a glimpse of her ear. Suddenly he was thinking about what the doctor had told him earlier, and looking at his innocent daughter only made the situation worse. What if he made the wrong choice? What if his daughter could never be normal?

"_You don't hate me do you?" A younger Tony asked his mother, who was holding a few pieces of a broken vase. His mother looked at him shocked, setting the vase down, she grabbed her son's shoulders firmly. _

"_Anthony, no matter what you do, I will never hate you! I will ALWAYS! ALWAYS! Love you!" His mother said, firmly. Tony shook his head understandingly, his mother pulled him into her chest and she held him there for a second before letting him go. _

"_I love you too mom!" He said, she smiled ruffling his hair, he would always pretend that he hated it when his mother did that. But he actually liked it, it was one of the ways him mom showed she loved him._

"_I know," His mother said, kissing his forehead._

"Uh-oh!" Maria said, bringing Tony back to reality. Maria was looking down at the water with a sympathetic look on her face. It took a few seconds for Tony to realize that Maria had peed in the bath tub; instantly he jumped out of the water. Maria looked at him curiously and continued to play.

"Come on you! Now we need a shower!" He said grabbing Maria out of the tub, and heading for the shower.

After a quick shower, Tony pulled Maria into a clean diaper and into a pair of brown feety pajamas with a hood that would pull up to look like teddy bear ears. They were Pepper's favorite, she would often make Maria wear it a little longer then normal.

After snuggling down with his daughter in his bed, she feel asleep quickly, her fingers in her mouth, and her rabbit at their side. Tony thought back to the flash back he had in the tub.

"No matter what happens, I will always love you!" Tony said, pulling his daughter closer to him.


	11. Chapter 11

**Looking for a beta.**

* * *

"Isn't she just darling?" An old woman said, approaching Tony who was holding his daughter. He had dressed her in a pink dress with red flowers, and a red bow in her raven hair.

The woman attempted to pinch Maria's cheeks but she turned her head away quickly, burying her face into her father's neck to escape the attack. The woman chucked, talking to Maria who simply ignored the woman. As quick as she came, she left.

"You are getting a lot of attention today aren't you Pumpkin!" Tony said, as his daughter stirred away from his neck, her blue eyes, watching his face. Tony kissed her forehead quickly. Then took off looking for Pepper, he managed to find her talking to another woman who was holding a boy around Maria's age.

"Oh, Tony!" Pepper said, loudly with a wide smile on her face. Pepper was wearing an off pink dress, in an attempt to match Maria, and not look childish. Tony couldn't help but keep his eyes on Pepper, because no matter what Pepper wore she was amazingly beautiful.

"This is Miss. Worthington, and her son Warren!" She said, holding her hand out in introduction. Miss. Worthington was quite tall and had a dark sandy blond hair that was tied back in a bun. While her son, had light blond hair, that curled tightly on top of his head.

Tony knew who the Worthington's were, he had done business with Miss. Worthington's husband quite a few times, but he had never met his wife, and was unaware that they had a son.

"It's nice to meet you!" Miss. Worthington said, sticking her free hand out to shake Tony's, which he gladly accepted. Maria started to stir turning around so she could see Warren.

"Mrs. Potts here was telling me, your daughter is nineteen months old!" Miss. Worthington said, holding her son who started to struggle. She made a strange face and tightened her grip on her wiggling son, so she wouldn't drop him.

"Are you alright?" Pepper asked, watching Miss. Worthington get control over the situation. The woman shot Pepper a sympatric look, finally getting control over her son's movements.

"Sorry about that, sometimes he gets squirmy." Miss. Worthington said, running her hand threw her sons curly locks. Pepper nodded her head understandingly; Maria would sometimes do the same.

"As I was saying!" Miss. Worthington stated loudly, running her hand over her hip flattening the wrinkles out on her dress, her face twisted in annoyance.

"Warren is twenty-two months old, and as I was saying to Mrs. Pots here. Warren gets lonely sometimes, and that I was looking for a playmate for him." She said, shifting Warren's weight around. There was no doubt in Tony's mind that Warren was a heavy child. He could tell by the way, Miss. Worthington sloped her body under his weight.

"I was hoping that you would be willing, to set up a play date between my son and your daughter." Miss. Worthington said, watching Tony carefully considering the idea. Maria rarely played with other children, and when she did she played with others quite well for a short period of time, before she would wonder off by her self again. Tony thought that maybe having a playmate would be beneficial to her.

"I don't see a problem, so I'll leave it up to Miss. Potts to set up a date!" Tony said, watching the smile grow wider on Miss. Worthington's face.

* * *

"Where is Maria?" Pepper asked, approaching Tony. He was standing beside a white clothed table that had different foods on top of it. It was very unlikely for Tony to eat anything that had sat out in the open for so long, so it was very strange that he was standing close to a table.

Tony held his finger to his lips, pointing under the table. Pepper raised her eye-brows in amusement. Hide and seek wasn't a new game, but doing it at an M.I.T party, was very new and possibly embarrassing.

Maria was the kind of child who would squeal when Tony found her, wiggling until she was set free so she could go hide again.

"Tony I don't think playing that here is a good…" Pepper said, placing her hand on her forehead as Tony reached under the table grabbing his daughter's sides, pulling her out into the open. She squealed in delight as Tony lifted her above his head, laughing at his daughter who continued to squeal and laugh. When he was done he placed Maria back on the ground and watched her crawl under another table.

By now every single person in the room was watching Tony quite intently. While muttering to each other, no one had seen such actions from Tony. Holding his daughter yes, but playing with her.

"Ah Tony, as much as you love playing with Maria, I don't think now is the time!" Pepper said, removing her hand from her forehead. His actions were not the least bit professional, and she had to work with some of these people.

"Why's that Pepper?" he asked, watching her looking around sharply. A few people were still looking, but most had stopped and continued their conversations.

"We work with these people Tony!" She snapped, Tony simply ignored her and lifted up the table cloth to peek under it. Maria was not to be found. Tony gently put the table cloth down and moved to the next one, peaking under it once again, to find Maria.

"So? Maria's bored!" Tony said innocently, reaching under and grabbing his newly found daughter. She squealed and wiggled away, not allowing Tony the chance to pull her out. A soft chuckle was heard from Tony as he released the tablecloth and continued the game to the next table.

"I don't' think its Maria who's bored!" Pepper snapped, placing her hands on her hips and glaring at Tony. Tony's eyes moved to Peppers stiff figure, as she towered over him. Sighing, he released his grip on the white cloth and stood up.

"What?" He asked watching Pepper fume. When she first started working for him her face would match the color of her hair, because she would be so irritated with him. But now her face would just twist in frustration, and she would just glare at him. He liked pushing her buttons, because it meant he got to see the 'face' and he thought it was irresistibly cute.

"You promised me you wouldn't do this if I let you bring Maria!" She said, crossing her arms. Tony shrugged his shoulders, she knew him well enough by now, to know that he never really listened to any one and that he really didn't care what other people thought. He was just trying to have fun with his daughter.

"If Maria is so bored, she can go play with Warren, I'm sure he's bored too!" Pepper said, nudging Tony out of the way to pull Maria out from under the table. She squirmed and squealed as Pepper pulled her out, and placed her on her hip.

Once again people in the room turned to see what the commotion was about. Pepper turned on her heel, marching over to Warren who was playing by him self against a wall with a few colored blocks someone had given to him.

He looked up as Pepper placed a very confused Maria in front of him, his blue eyes wide and curious.

"Ma-ma!" Maria said when Pepper placed a loving hand on her head. Maria had no interest in playing with Warren, Pepper knew she would rather be playing with Tony. But today, at this moment, it wasn't a good idea.

"Play nice!" Pepper said, poking Maria's nose gently and walking back over to Tony who was making pouted faces at her. The sight kind of made Pepper feel like the bad guy, but she knew it was for the better good.

"Now Mr. Stark!" Pepper said, placing a hand on her hip. Tony stopped making his faces and watched her.

"If you would follow me, there are a few people you need to talk to!" She said, twisting her body around to find them. Tony was far from happy, he hated talking to people at M.I.T parties, they only talked about two things, business and a great new idea they wanted Tony to invest in. He never did because most of the ideas were well…stupid.

* * *

Maria watched as Pepper walked away, confused and frustrated that Mommy wouldn't let her play with Daddy. Maybe Daddy had done something bad and gotten a time out? Maria didn't know, but she did know that Mommy had placed her beside the boy she had seen earlier.

He was watching her intently, holding a yellow block in his hand. Daddy wouldn't let Maria bring her rabbit, even when she fought with him in the car to take it with her. He didn't want her to lose the animal at the party, which was more then likely to happen. Maria would forget her rabbit almost everywhere, and losing it around the house was one thing, (JARVIS always knew where it was) but taking it out in public was another. Maria would surely throw a fit if she could never find her precious stuffed friend.

"You take!" Warren said, handing her the yellow block he was holding. It was quite large in his little hand, and Maria looked at him strangely before accepting the block from Warren's hands.

Satisfied that Maria had accepted her gift, he handed her a red block. Which Maria accepted swiftly, this process continued a few more times until Maria was holding five blocks, each a different color. Warren then waited patiently on the floor for Maria to hand him the blocks back, a game he and his mother played quite frequently.

Maria's eyes fluttered down to the blocks, she thought for a moment, and then dropped all the blocks on the floor walking to the nearest table and crawling under it. If she hid, Daddy would have to come and find her. It was the rules.

Warren watched Maria curiously, before pushing him self up off of the ground and following. He had never been under the table before, and he was curious to see why Maria liked it so much.

Struggling to crawl under the covers of the table, Warren grunted when he had finally escaped the clutches of the evil white cloth. It wasn't hard to find Maria, she was after all laying on the ground her thumb in her mouth as she lazily waited for something.

That's when Warren noticed the pretty red bow hanging off her head. He decided at that moment, he wanted it. Quietly making his way to Maria he grabbed the end of the ribbon and tugged it away from her hair. Maria instantly, sat up grabbing for her ribbon her small hand missing her target. Frustrated, she chased after Warren who was making his way out of her hide out.

"Mine!" Maria yelled grabbing the ribbon on the ground sharply pulling as she ran. Maria was completely oblivious to the ribbon that had been snagged on Warrens pants, had started to unravel, and soon had left her with nothing but a bundle of little strings. Confused, she dropped the stings in her hand on the floor and turned back to Warren. He had found something much more entertaining then Maria's ribbon, and quietly played with the table cloth, placing the white fabric over his head.

Angry Maria ran over to Warren pulling the table cloth away from him. He retaliated by pushing Maria harshly in the stomach, she landed on her bottom. Looking at him shocked, tears building up in her eyes. She suddenly let out a soft wail.

"Sorry, Sorry!" Warren said, crawling over to Maria and hugging her, then quickly pulled away. His mother had taught him that when your hurt someone, you say your sorry and hug them.

* * *

"Tony, I think its time to go!" Pepper said, placing her small hand on his shoulder. He turned around to look at Pepper who looked extremely tired; it was a regular occurrence for her, parties always made her tired.

"What time is it?" Tony asked, flicking his wrist and studying the face of his watch, it was ten o'clock. Maria suddenly flashed threw his mind, it was way past her bed time, and he could only imagine what she would be like in the morning.

"Can you get Maria? I'm afraid I'll drop her!" Pepper said, watching Tony rub his face absent mindedly. The last time he saw Maria was twenty minutes ago, she was playing with Warren, who was tugging her around by the hand. She didn't seem to mind as Warren showed her all types of things, one of them being what's under a dress. The woman had screeched thinking it was some wild man who pulled up her dress, but was greeted by Maria and Warren who curiously held up the ends of her dress.

"Where is she?" Tony asked Pepper watching her turn her body and pointing out two small bodies curled up on a large chair against the wall. Tony's heart started to swell at the sight, Maria was curled up fast asleep with her fingers in her mouth and her head placed on Warren's stomach. Warren, who was in an even more awkward position slept with his head partly on the back of the chair and his legs dangling off the front of the chair.

Silently Tony walked over to his daughter gently pulling her warm body to his chest. She stirred for a moment opening her eyes, wide enough to understand who was picking her up.

"Time to go pumpkin." Tony softly said, to his daughter as he gently pressed his lips to her forehead, she yawned and placed her head in the crook of his neck, falling asleep almost instantly. Tony chucked as he made sure he had a secure grip on his daughter, and followed a very impatient Pepper out the door.


	12. Chapter 12

**Waiting to be beated.**

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"Maria look!" Pepper said as she pulled the small creature from the shallow ocean waters. Maria looked up from the mud she was slopping on her pale skin. Maria's eyes widened her mouth slightly ajar when Pepper calmly brought the purple creature over to Maria .

"It's a star fish!" Pepper said placing the palm sized creature on the wet sand in front of Maria. Maria reached forward to grab the creature harshly when Pepper stopped her, placing her hand over the purple star fish. Confused Maria looked at Pepper wondering why she couldn't play with the new toy Pepper brought over.

"It's alive Maria, be gentle!" Pepper said smiling down at Maria who nodded her head softly her blue eyes wide, and lips parted. 'Be gentle' was something Pepper _had_ to teach Maria, because Tony was not a careful person. He would often accidentally break things he would see as invaluable, because Tony believed if it's broken he could just buy a new one!

Slowly Pepper pulled her hands away from the starfish and watching Maria intensely, just to make sure she wouldn't hurt the small creature. Like she had been told to, Maria picked the star fish up with a chubby hand and pulled it close to her turning it over with two hands and examining all sides of the creature.

Maria's curiosity was one of the many things Pepper loved about her. Even if Maria wasn't Pepper's biological daughter, she knew she loved her like one. She loved that Maria would cling to her, at times following her around studying everything Pepper did, sometimes copying Pepper's current task. She loved giving Maria bed time kisses, or just kisses in general. In fact Pepper thought she loved everything about the little girl, even if at times she was extremely frustrating, even more frustrating then Tony could ever replicate.

Maria gently placed the purple star fish upside down on the mud she had dug up, and continued to build her pile wider. The sound of Maria's soft breathing was barely noticeable over the rushing waves, and the call of seagulls.

It would have been a lot louder if Tony had gone to the beach with them, usually he would have tagged along, but today Tony had a personal mission Pepper was unaware of. The thought of Tony getting into trouble slightly frustrated her, he was up to something and she knew it, but she would gladly take any free time she could possibly get with Maria. She would deal with Tony later.

"What do you think your Daddy is up to?" Pepper asked Maria tucking her black hair back into her hat. Maria ignored Pepper's question and continued to pile the mud up on top of the starfish. Pepper felt a little bit sorry for the starfish, the poor creature would soon be buried under piles of muddy sand, and it had no say. Pepper chuckled at the thought of a starfish trying to escape a muddy prison and leaned in to kiss Maria lightly on the check.

A small smile spread across Maria's face. Maria dropped her shovel in the sand, marching over to Pepper and planting a very wet, sloppy kiss on Pepper's mouth. Pepper's heart swelled, when Maria pulled away and hiccupped.

"You have no idea how much I love you." Pepper whispered to Maria who had settled down in her lap, her hiccups vibrating Pepper's chest. Content, Pepper wrapped her arms around Maria's tiny body watching her continue to dig.

They sat like this for about ten minutes, when Pepper noticed that Maria started to shiver. Flicking her wrist Pepper checked the small sliver watch on her wrist reading the time with no effort; it was close to four o'clock.

"I think its time to get you home!" Pepper said softly, slipping her hands under Maria's armpits and standing her up in the sand. Maria didn't seem to understand why Pepper would do such a thing until she noticed that Pepper was picking up their things. Maria soon joined Pepper, picking up her toys one at a time and placing them in a plastic backpack with Disney Princesses on the front.

Pepper couldn't help but smile when she checked the small beach and saw everything had been picked up, with the help of Maria. Not that it really mattered if they cleaned the small stretch of beach up, Tony did own it, and people were paid to make sure the place was kept clean.

"There all done!" Pepper chimed loudly, slamming the trunk shut of the recently bought vehicle. It was Tony's idea to buy something with an entertainment system in the back seat. Not only for it to keep Maria occupied on longer trips but this car was much more safer then strapping a baby in the back of his many sports cars.

Maria pulled her towel over her head before she looked up at Pepper and chimed, "All done, all done Ma-ma!" Pepper could feel her heart swell with pride as Maria continued to pull the towel over her head.

A small grunt of annoyance came from Maria as she struggled to pull the towel off in another direction. A soft chuckle left Pepper's lips as she leaned forward and pulled the towel gently off of Maria's head.

"There you are!" Pepper chimed when Maria's head poked out of the towel her black hair in an incredible messy mass, a small smile spread across Maria's face at Pepper's comment.

"Come on Pumpkin, time to go home and see your Daddy!" Pepper said, sliding her hands under Maria's armpits and pulling her into her hip.

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"So did you have fun at the beach?" Tony asked, Pepper when she tiredly sat down in the computer chair closing her eyes as she relaxed. Her pale white skin was lightly burned on her shoulders and cheeks, and her red hair was pulled back into a messy pony tail.

"Maria hates the water." Pepper pointed out softly pushing the chair back a little, relaxing more into the warm leather. Tony was distracted with two small soft glowing objects before he responded.

"That's strange, she likes the pool." He replied simply searching for something on his desk. The ruffling of papers caught Pepper's attention, and she lazily watched Tony, pick up a screw driver.

"Maybe she doesn't like the waves or the ocean?" Pepper said as pushed her self out of the computer chair and carefully walked across the cold floor in her bare feet.

"What on earth are you making?" Pepper asked picking up a small curved glowing blue object off the table and studying it. Tony's face scrunched up in unease and he gently grabbed the device from Peppers fingers. Its not that he didn't trust her, it was simply the device wasn't finished yet, and could very easily fall apart.

"It's no fun if I tell you!" Tony smirked turning his eye's back to his project. Pepper let out a frustrated sigh, and crossed her arms in annoyance. If Tony wasn't going to tell her, she knew she was going to go crazy.

"Fine, I didn't want to know anyway!" She lied, uncrossing her arms and walking away. She still had yet to unpack the car, and if it sat any longer there was no doubt in her mind the car would permanently smell like wet soggy towels.

"They're for Maria." Tony said, after Pepper pulled the bags out of the back of the car and placing them on the floor. Curious Pepper, glanced at Tony watching him place his hands on the table and study his contraption. Silence hung over the room like thick clouds before he spoke again.

"I don't want her to live like that Pepper." Tony said, running his hand along the back of his neck. Pepper looked at Tony confused, she had no idea what he was talking about, and for a minute she thought he possibly may be under the influence of something.

"Tony what are you –"

Being def Pepper! Do you know how many people actually know American Sign Language? "Tony ranted, picking up something and throwing it across the table, it hit the floor with a loud bang scaring Pepper.

"Hardly enough," He said simply looking down at the two devices he was slowly building. Pepper could feel her heart drop into her stomach; she could never imagine what it would be like to speak a language hardly anyone understood. What it would be like to go into a store and have people stare when they realized you talked funny, or had to use your hands to help get your message across.

"Tony.." Pepper began before for he cut her off.

"No Pepper, it's not fair. She's been through too much already; I won't let her go threw this." He said calmly picking up a screwdriver and holding it in his hand tightly. Pepper bit her lip softly waiting for another out burst from Tony.

"When I'm done with these, she wont have to learn any sign language." He murmured, silently working away at one of the two devices on the table. Pepper slowly made her way over to Tony, ignoring the slam of Maira's bag falling onto the floor and the contents spilling out.

"Tony," She said grabbing his hand gently to grab his attention. He sighed before looking up at her, his eyes dull, and sleepy. She squeezed his hand gently as she thought of something to say, anything.

"The things you do for Maria are…phenomenal. I have never seen anyone as dedicated as you are being a father, and Tony you're a great father. It wouldn't matter if Maria was normal, def, or blind because I know no matter what situation she is in, she has people who would love her. No matter what Tony, I will always be here for you and Maria." Pepper could feel her eyes on the verge of tears, and if she wasn't on the opposite side of the table from Tony she might have wrapped her arms around him and cried. She had known for a very long time that when it came to his daughter, no matter what the situation he would always be there for her, just like Pepper would always be there for him.

"Thanks Pep." Tony said, pulling his hand away from her and silently returning to his work. A small smile twisted onto her face for a moment when she watched Tony continuing his work. Still trying to hold back tears, she walked away running her fingers under her eyes to stop any on coming tears.

This failed when Pepper's watery eyes studied the ground and her eyes caught the sight of a purple sea creature spread upside down on the garage floor. The tears almost instantly started to slop down her face.

"Oh, Maria!" Pepper murmured, picking up the creature and cradling it in hands. "You silly little girl!"


	13. Chapter 13

**Thank you SilverHeart09 for beating. **

**Super stressed out with school, and stressed out I haven't had time to post.**

**Thank you for the reviews, I love reading them.**

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Tony was feeling under the weather when he had pulled Maria into his room and attempted to make her settle down with him. Maria on the other hand didn't seem to care her daddy was sick, but had assumed it was some sort of strange play time and proceeded to entertain herself.

After playing under the covers and playing with the palms of his hands, she had started to entertain herself by brushing Tony`s hair, moustache, and arm. He was glad that the brush she was using was extremely soft, and had next to no effect on him, because Maria was not always careful when it came to pampering other people. But the feeling of her running the small white brush through his mustache was comforting, and he became more relaxed.

Before he knew it he had passed out into a deep slumber unaware that his daughter wasn't going to be following him.

Bored of her new activity, Maria pulled her brush away from her daddy`s face and curiously watched him sleep. People had told her she looked like her father, and even if Tony denied it they were right. They shared the same dark hair, blue eyes, and nose.

Maria loved her Daddy very much. He was tall so he could reach the cookie jar hidden in the kitchen, strong so he could hold her whenever she wanted, and smart so he could fix her ears. Maria liked being able to hear because she was unaware that some of her toys had made sounds. She now could also hear when Mommy was coming because her shoes made strange noises. She had attempted to recreate the noise but had failed since she couldn't get a hold of her Mommies' shoes.

But the thing she loved about her Daddy the most was he never hurt her, he never got mad at her, and he was definitely never, ever scary. He had never called her names she didn't understand or forgot to feed her. Even if she had discovered her father was a horrible cook, she still liked it when he cooked spaghetti because he would throw the noodles against the walls to see if they would stick.

He loved to see her laugh and would attempt just about anything to hear her giggle. Sometimes he would pin her to the floor pressing his face to her tummy and blowing. She would scream and giggle trying to get away from him. But he would just laugh at her and blow on her tummy again.

Her father let out a deep sigh and curiously she laid out a hand on his bearded face and pulled away when he inhaled deeply. For a moment she watched as her father's chest rised and fell, the glowing night light shone dimly through his shirt. Again curious about her father Maria placed her hand on the glowing night light and pulled away when she felt the familiar strange hum of the reactor. The device was indeed scary to her, the first time she had seen it she thought it was a monster coming to hurt her. To swallow her up and leave her in his dark cold tummy.

Maria had become bored with her father; if he was going to sleep then she would find someone else to play with. She crawled to the end of the bed, swinging her body around allowing her feet to dangle off the edge of the bed for a second and dropped. Her padded bum hitting the floor safely. With a sigh she pushed herself off the ground shoving her fingers in her mouth in the process. Her blue eyes scanned the room, stopping on a large pair of glass double doors that were slightly ajar.

She had never been in the small room behind the doors, Daddy had always kept the doors tightly closed, and when she had tried to pry the door open from the crack on the bottom he would grab her and place her elsewhere. This game became frustrating to Maria so she would give up quickly playing with whatever he had handed her.

Today she would finally see what was behind the doors. She excitedly made her way across the room her small fingers slithering between the open crack and pulled the door open in a swift careless manner. The door swung open and harshly slammed into the wall, a small crack splitting up the glass. Tony rolled over in his sleep unaware of the potential danger Maria was in.

A few lights flickered on above Maria's head lighting up the small room. Her eyes widened in excitement when she realized the walls were stocked with hundreds of shirts, pants, and shoes. A small undistinguished word past her lips as she quietly headed over to a rack and pulled harshly on a white shirt neatly pressed on a rack.

It took a few seconds for the light fabric to give way, the one sleeve ripping at the seams. Maria fell to the ground the shirt tightly clutched in her hands, she ignored the pain on her bottom and studied the thin shirt she had tore off the hanger.

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Tony had never had such a vivid dream in his life. The dream was even more vivid then the one he had the first night he spent in the hospital with Maria. He had dreamt that a small petite woman with curly brown ringlets was sitting across from him holding a small familiar black haired child. At first he didn't understand what was going on but he heart had stopped when he realized that his daughter was in danger. Her frightened eyes scanned the room wildly looking for safety, looking for him.

"Give her back to me!" he shouted his words coming out mumbled and disoriented. He ignored the burning pain erupting from his throat as he becoming angry and tried to grab for the frightened child but failed when his body refused to respond to his demands.

He watched helplessly as a dark shadow appeared behind the curly brunette and Maria, gently placing his hand on the woman's shoulder. The woman holding Maria suddenly looked unsure and reached up to grab her daughter around the throat gripping her soft flesh tightly in her hands. Maria started to struggle and Tony shot up in his bed looking around in a panic.

When he had realized he was only dreaming he leaned back into his covers and ran a tired hand over his swollen sinuous. Everything hurt, and his stomach was still churning, not only from the dream he was having but the reality that he was a very sick man.

Tony ran his hand through his messy hair, his fingers getting caught in the dark locks of hair. It was normal for him to have disturbing dreams; he did after all still dream of the nights he spent in Afghanistan. But the idea of Maria in physical pain inflicted upon her so violently deeply disturbed him and created dreams in his mind more horrible then any physical pain that could be inflicted on him.

But she had him now, he shouldn't be thinking about those things. He had to think about how much better her life was now. How many things he could provide for her that even a normal parent couldn't.

He could pay for her to go to any school in the entire world she wanted to go to. Hell he could even buy the damn school if she wanted it. He could build anything she needed with his bare hands, making them better than anything on the market. He could do anything with the amount of money he had, but what he couldn't do was save his daughter the horrors she would go through when she realized her mother in fact did not love her or the nightmares of abuse and god knows what. He couldn't save her from her past, something he wanted to do so badly.

"Da-da!" Maria suddenly yelled slamming the closet door open, scaring any thoughts about his daughter's past out of him. He could hear the window crack and a few pieces of class plunk onto the floor. Maria's little eyes watched the broken pieces of glass roll out onto the floor and stared confused. While Tony could see at least ten things wrong with the situation, one of them including the dangers of Maria's little feet being cut on the sharp glass.

Without thinking Tony jumped from the bed grabbing Maria who was tangled in one of his thin shirts. He barely had time to registrar the condition of his closet when he let out a sudden yelp and cursed when one of the sharp pieces of glass cut his own foot. He lifted up his leg a bit, reaching his hand down to pull out the small shard from the inside of his foot pulling tightly and hissing from pain.

"Da-da, Da-da!" Maria cried when she had realized the pain her father was in, great gobs of tears running down her face. Tony felt his heart swell, as he pressed his lips to her small temple comforting her.

"It's all right baby girl, Daddy is okay!" He murmured in between his soft loving kisses, his foot still in pain.


	14. Chapter 14

**Needs to be betaed. Sorry for lack of updates, college sucks.**

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Maria had tiny feet, and sometimes Tony had found it difficult to find shoes that fit her feet properly. He figured that small feet were a trait she had revived from her mother because his mother didn't have small feet, and Tony himself certainly didn't have tiny feet.

But no matter how small her feet were, he still loved them. They easily fit in his hand, and the curl of her small pale toes was... adorable. Tony didn't even think that word was in his vocabulary, and he couldn't help but think how adorable or cute, or anything Maria's feet were.

Sometimes Maria's toe nails were pink, blue, yellow or an array of multicolored bright colours. Painting toe nails, and finger nails was something Pepper and Maria did together on a regular basis. Even if it was really just Pepper painting both of their feet for them.

Painting nails may have been Pepper's and Maria's 'thing', but Saturday mornings cartoons was Tony's and his daughter's activity of choice. On Saturdays Tony and Maria usually laid stretched out on the couch watching a vigorous amount of stupid cartoons while they waited for Pepper to show up. They would spend over three hours stretched out fooling around, snuggling, and playing whatever Maria's little heart desired.

One particular morning Maria was lying on her back one of her tiny legs being held by her father who was pressing his mouth to the sensitive flesh and blowing watching her squirm and giggle as she tried to pull her legs away from him. If she did manage to pull her legs away from him, she would gently place them close enough to him so he could continue their game.

Tony was pressing his lips to her feet when Pepper came storming into the living room a stack of papers in her arm and a cell phone pressed to her ear. Pepper was completely engulfed in her own world as she stormed past them on the couch and into the living room chatting on the phone about anything and everything.

Maria let out a shy giggle her finger's hanging out of her mouth, as she looked up at her father lovingly, mumbling something unrecognizable to Tony. He pulled his lips away from her foot with a wide grin on his face.

"What?" He asked, pressing his lips back to her feet and blowing again. She laughed, trying to pull her foot away to him. Tony begun to laugh, when she had mumbled something to him again.

"I can't hear you with your fingers in your mouth Maria!" He laughed pressing his mouth to her feet again and blowing. She giggled loudly, pulling her wet fingers out of her mouth.

"No." She said shyly wiggling her toes trying to escape from his gentle grasp.

"No what?" Tony laughed watching her reach up to grab his hand with her wet fingers. He wasn't bothered by the fact that she was touching him, with her saliva covered hand; she had after all done a lot worse to him then slobber. There was a time in his life where if a child had come after him with any kind of saliva, snot, or waste he would have hit the hills running. But then again he had always been told it was different when it was your own child drooling, or defecating on you.

"No tickle." Maria said her wide blue eyes watching Tony gently release her foot, playfully sighing. Maria studied him curiously, his new actions unfamiliar to her.

"Fine!" Tony huffed, crossing his arms looking away from his daughter. He could barely contain the smile that threatened to speed across his face. Maria laughed grabbing his sides, her small hand attempting to tickle him. She was trying to make him smile, the way he made her.

Maria pulled her hand away from him, looking up at him curiously to see if he was smiling; her mouth was slightly ajar as her mind reeled with information. She attempted once more to tickle his side, somewhat crawling across his lap and reaching out for his other side.

At that moment Tony had decided to grab his daughter's sides and tickle her, her laughter ringing threw the house loudly as she tried to squirm out of his grasp. When he was finished he pulled his hands away from her side, and watched her roll over onto her back in his lap and look up at him her face blank.

"No!" She said seriously, pushing her messy black locks out of her hair with difficulty. Tony's hand reached down to help her move the messy strands from her face when she told him no once more.

"I'm sorry!" He chuckled, pushing her defending hands gently out of the way to brush the stands out of her face. She closed her eyes, awaiting the contact and only opened them when he was done.

"Can I have a kiss?" Tony asked, his thumb rubbing her leg in a comforting manner. Maria shook her head no, messing up her hair even more then needed. He chuckled, watching her small hands grabbing at the bottom of his shirt and playing with it.

"Can I kiss you?" He asked, her eyes rolling up to look at him, she thought about the question for a minute before pulling her fingers out of her mouth and shaking her head yes.

With out a second thought Tony kissed his daughter, smiling when she giggled from the contact of his facial hair. Scooping his daughter up in his arms, he held her as if she were a small infant.

Maria had always found the gesture comforting, and usually no matter what situation they were in he could calm her down just by holding her. Holding his daughter in his arms was one of the very first things he had done with her, when he had spent hours upon hours sitting in the hospital with her, and there was no doubt in his mind the reason she loved it so much was because it was one of the first loving interactions she had ever had with a human.

"Hey, can I talk to you?" Pepper asked, slipping papers onto the table interrupting Tony's and Maria's small father daughter moment. Maria stirred and wiggled when she saw Pepper, reaching her arms out for Pepper to hold her.

"Mama." Maria muttered with her grabby hands waiting excitedly for Pepper to pick her up. A small smile spread across Pepper's face as she gently placed the remaining things she was holding in her hands on the table walking over to scoop Maria up.

"What about Pep?" Tony asked, his eyes watching the Pepper fix Maria's black locks.

"About what?" Tony asked, leaning back into the couch relaxing his muscles as much as possible. Pepper adjusted Maria on her hip, and then turned to Tony.

"About Maria's B-i-r-t-h-d-a-y." She said with a small smile on her face. Pepper was excited to throw Maria he first birthday party, and had gone a little crazy in the past couple of weeks preparing every single detail for Maria's party. Tony had tried to stay out of it, he figured paying for everything was enough, and he really had no idea how to plan a kid's birthday party.

"What about it Pep?" Tony asked a wide smile plastered on his face. He highly doubted Maria knew what a birthday party was, so spelling it out seemed kind of ridiculous to Tony, but then again Pepper was so excited about the party she could hardly contain herself. She wanted every single detail of the party to be a perfect. He had walked in on Pepper a few times freaking out about a tiny detail in the party.

"I ah, kind of went overboard." she said a deep blush spreading across her cheeks, shyly Pepper looked away from Tony embarrassed, she cleared her throat before continuing, "I spent a lot more then we budgeted."

For a moment Tony was shocked that Pepper of all people had managed to spend more than a few thousand he had set aside for the small party. Normally they were over-budgeted because Pepper was so good at her job.

"Really? By how much!" Tony asked watching Pepper look around the room uncomfortably, her mind reeling with numbers. A deep sigh left her lips and her lower lip slightly trembled as she attempted to speak. She did not want to tell her boss that she had in-fact over-budgeted so much that she had maxed out the card he had handed to her, one of the reasons to make sure Mara got a small petting zoo to come to the house. A petting zoo she did not asking Tony if it was okay to set up in the house.

"I maxed out the card you gave me." Pepper said softly, waiting for Tony's reaction. Pepper had expected Tony to freak out, but when he started to laugh she looked at him confused and bewildered. She didn't understand.

"Finally!" Tony laughed, watching Pepper's confused face. "You have been working for me for over ten years; I was waiting for this moment!" Tony said childishly with a laugh. A small scowl appeared on Pepper's face, she did not find the situation humorous at all.

"Tony, this is serious, I spent way too much!" Pepper snapped angrily, as she watched Tony continue to gloat in her mistake.

"Pepper calm down, it's okay." Tony said his hands held up defensively, his smile still wide on his face. Tony had then suddenly stood up, his right hand fishing into his back pocket to pull out a black leather wallet. Silently Tony pulled out a silver credit card from his wallet, and handed it to Pepper who hesitated, her hand shaking in nervousness.

"Take it; I want Maria's first birthday party to be the best party any little girl could ever have." He said seriously, his face almost in a scowl. Very rarely in her career did Pepper see Tony very serious, and the when he was it was almost scary. Pepper took the credit card without question, nodding her head slightly in understanding.

An awkward silence hung in the room, as both adults waited for the other to say something.

"Ma-Ma!" Maria squealed reaching her small hand up and grabbing Peppers lips, Tony noticed Pepper's eyes slightly cringe at the contact, knowing all too well that sometimes Maria had sharp nails, and it hurt when she grabbed for flesh.

There was a muffled unrecognizable response from Pepper as she waited for Maria to remove her hand, from her lips.

"I ove you." Maria said, pulling her hand away from Peppers lips using the same hand to grab Peppers shirt, wrinkling the fabric. Pepper and Tony were shocked; they had both never heard her say she loved anyone. It was the first time

"I love you too, Maria!" Pepper whispered kissing the exposed skin on her forehead. A soft laugh passed through Tony's lips as he interrupted the scene in front of him.

"What about me, don't you love me?" Tony asked his daughter, her head tilted in confusion. Her black locks like always were in a disarray around her head like normal, but now her hair was quite a bit longer. It had been agreed to grow Maria's hair out so Pepper could do all sorts of cute things with it.

Slowly Maria nodded her head, showing him her index finger and very seriously said, "I ove you, Da-da." Maria nodded her head once, and turned her attention away from Tony to her much loved Mother.


	15. Chapter 15

This is a really poor chapter and honestly I'm not happy with it. But people did want to see Maira's first birthday party with Tony. I might come back and fix it later. I also don't really have the time at the moment to think of another idea, but I should have plenty of time in the new year, for I should be done school.

**Needs to be betaed.**

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As an adult Tony had never been to a child's birthday party, so when a small petting zoo, bounce pad, and a number of crazy child play things had been set up in his house he was just as confused as Maria, who had taken a liking to a gray old miserable looking minutiae horse. She had spent the whole morning dressed in an expensive lavender dress playing with the dopey creature.

Tony had thought about buying the depressing animal, but quickly reconsidered this idea when he realized he had nowhere to keep it, even if he boarded the small creature. He figured there was no point since they would never have the time to see it, beside he had already reconstructed the water fountain so it could sustain aquatic life in the pool.

The small purple star fish Maria had brought home weeks earlier had been a bigger problem than he could have ever imagined, because Maria had refused to let it go. She would scream like a banshee if she couldn't find her new pet in the water fountain, and she would check on it quite regularly just to make sure it was still there, lazing around in the pool.

Tony didn't think he could hate any creature as much as he hated Maira's purple starfish, because Maria found it amazing to place the soaking wet creature on his pant legs when he wasn't looking. It also didn't help that the stupid creature would attempt to escape and he would step on it frequently. Pepper never had this problem, so she insisted that Tony was over reacting.

Around one thirty in the afternoon all of Maria's guests had showed up, a large majority of the guests were children Tony didn't know. He had figured they were children from work as well as some of Peppers, and Rhodes family members and friends. This didn't stop any of the children from stopping Tony to tell him he was Ironman, and asking him as many questions as possible before their parents ushered them away.

The only child he did know was Warren Worthington the 3ed, the famous son of Warren Worthington jr and his wife Kathryn. Maria had recognized Warren instantly from their many play dates and had dragged him off to meet her new animal companion. Tony knew in her own way Maria was showing Warren her great discovery. It was something the two often did while playing, even if they discovery wasn't as amazing as they thought it was.

"You know they're going to freak when they take the animals away." Miss. Worthington mumbled beside Tony as they watched the two pat the depressed horse. Tony had nodded his head in agreement his eyes scanning Miss. Worthington's face. She had deep circles under her eyes, pasty white skin and she had appeared to have lost a lot of weight.

"It would be worse if we kept it and it died." Tony said, looking sourly at his drink before taking a small sip. Death was not a conversation he was looking forward to having with Maria, he was glad her stupid starfish would live for at least 15 more years if he was lucky and the starfish wasn't already too old.

"Very true, we were thinking of getting Warren a dog. But I think he's a little too young for that yet." Miss. Worthington said a small smile on her face. Tony had once thought of a dog for Maria, but realized he had no backyard, so it would be ridiculous to have an animal that would have to go to the bathroom in the house.

"We don't have a backyard, so there is no way I could get a dog." Tony said simply watching his daughter give a child he didn't know a dirty look when they had approached her horse.

"Have you thought about a cat?" She said simply pressing her cup to her lips. Tony shook his head tilting his cup so he could see the small pool of alcohol at the bottom.

"Allergic." he said plainly, Tony hated cats, and even if he wasn't allergic he would never get one. He remembered his aunt had a very unsocial cat when he was younger and it use to attack him if he even so much looked at the stupid thing. He had figured that if he stuck to fish, he would be alright in the pet department.

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Maria had cried when Tony had pulled her away from her precious horse, so much in fact that she seemed to have no interest in anything else the party had to offer which had upset Pepper. It had taken weeks for Pepper to set up the party, and the only guest Pepper cared about being happy was screaming. Tony had to reassure Pepper that everything would be fine later if they could sneak the animals out while Maria was ripping open gifts, and this is what they attempted to do wile Maria cried and tried to seek comfort in her father.

The parents agreed that the petting zoo was a bad idea, because most of the children freaked when they saw that the petting zoo had magically disappeared during the opening of presents. Trying to make the situation a little better Pepper tried to redirect everyone's attention towards the large purple and pink princess cake she had specially ordered for Maria. Most children had instantly forgotten about the beloved animals in exchange for sweets, but Maria had sat in her high chair glaring at the food they had presented to her.

"It looks like she doesn't trust it!" Pepper muttered her fingers by her mouth as she and Tony watched Maria study the small piece of cake on her high chair table.

"Well this is the first time she has had cake, maybe she doesn't understand that she can eat it?" Tony said in a hushed tone so only Pepper could hear him. He had found it utterly ridiculous that his child did not understand what to do with cake, but then again he thought he really couldn't blame himself. He highly doubted her mother ever gave her cake, or any sweets for that matter.

"Maybe you should sit down with her and attempt to feed her some?" Pepper asked softly, her pretty eyes giving him a look that he could never argue with. Tony ran his hand along the back of his neck, he was not a fan of cake, or many sweets for that matter, and feeding Maria meant that he had to eat some of the cake as well. It was one of the strange things about Maria, she would only eat something new if she saw him eat it. It had made Tony laugh the first time that he had figured this out, in a strange way she was using him as guniea pig, and if he didn't die she would try it.

"Fine, but you owe me!" Tony playfully said, walking away from a frustrated Pepper to pull an empty chair beside Maria who studied him with wide eyes. He gave her a soft smile, taking a small plastic spoon that was sitting nearby and scooping a small piece of her cake up and placing the sugary goodness in his mouth. He tried not to make a face when the sweet icing touched his tongue. He didn't want to discourage Maria from eating something most children went crazy even at the mention of.

Maria gave her father a strange look watching him very carefully scoop her cake into his mouth. Cautiously with her eyes still on her father she grabbed a handful of cake and shoved an unknown amount in her small mouth. Her reaction to the sweet cake was instant; she scrunched up her face and spat out the cake into her lap, then harshly turned away from Tony and shoved the plate off her tray to make a point right into Tony's lap. A small laugh was heard from Pepper on the other side of the room, and Tony just barely caught her escaping from the sight of the two, possibly to go and laugh in an empty room.

"Thanks Maria." Tony mumbled softly pushing the mushy cake of his pants and onto the floor; someone would deal with it later. Maria was still turned away from Tony, her hand covered in cake, and small remnants of cake around her lips. Her blue eyes were watching him from the corner of her eyes. He couldn't help but chuckle at her stubbornness, she thought he was about to force her to eat the cake.

"I'm not going to make you eat that Baby Girl." Tony said quickly grabbing a napkin sitting on a table just a few feet away from him. Maria struggled as he tried to wipe the cake from her hands and face. When he was done, she glared at him as if it was his fault she didn't like the current situation she was in. He chuckled watching her snobbishly looking away from him, in her attempt to ignore him.

"Maria!" he laughed watching her glance at him quickly before looking away. Tony laughed again calling out to her, and she once again tried to ignore him. Tony loved the sound of her laugh, so when he continued to pester his daughter she giggled sending the familiar swelling through his chest.

When their small laughing fit had finished, Tony gently pressed his lips to her temple, her familiar sent of baby powder tickled his nose. He had become very fond of the smell and knew he would dearly miss it when she grew out of smelling like a baby. When Tony had pulled away he had noticed that Maira's blue eyes were watching someone behind him, before he had time to turn around to see who she was looking at she raised her hands in the air and yelled out "Odie!"

Rhodey stopped when Maria had called out to him; he was in the process of walking by with a small plate covered with an assortment of food. A look of confusment crossed Rhodey's face; he had no idea why Maria had suddenly taken an interest in him. He had after all been at the house even before the party started. Even then she had taken little interest in him, but no one blamed her, there was too many new things going on for her to even notice a regular visitor.

Gently Tony picked Maria up making sure that her legs didn't get stuck in the high chair . She wiggled around in attempt to get to Rhodey who was more than willing to accept her into his arms. The transition from Tony's hip to Rhodey's was slightly awkward since Rhodey was still holding onto his precious food. When Maria was settled onto Rhodey's hip her eyes immediately moved from Rhodey's face to the plate he was carrying, and without a second thought she reached forward grabbing for some vegetables on his plate and contently started to munch on them.

"She defiantly is your daughter!" Rhodey said softly to the chuckling Tony before walking off with his very happy daughter.

**Please review. I love reading them.**


	16. Chapter 16

I should be doing homework, but just to spite my chemistry teacher I won't. Instead I have produced this, which makes me feel better not only for lack of updates, but the last chapter I think as lame.

**Needs to be betaed.**

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Mission days were the worst days for Pepper, for a number of reasons. The first being Maria would freak if she saw the armor being placed on Tony's body, so they had learned to keep her away from Tony and the suit. The second reason was the fear of Tony not coming home.

"You worry too much Pep, I'm Ironman, and nothing can beat me." Tony had said to her once on his way out before a mission. His words were unsettling, and as she watched Tony kiss his daughter goodbye, she felt the same sickness in her stomach as she always did.

Maria was completely unaware of what was happening, and it wouldn't surprise anyone if she thought that the Ironman suit was a giant monster attempting to swallow her father up. For this reason she completely avoided all contact with it. If one of her toys had managed to roll near the stationary displays she would cry and pout until someone got it for her.

"Please be careful." Pepper lectured as she attempted to hold down the over whelming feeling of fear in her stomach. Tony placed Maria on the floor beside him and with her new found freedom Maria had ran over to her toys.

Tony softly turned to look at Pepper, his black under suit, making his blue eyes more piercing than normal. Tony looked serious for a moment, and Pepper half expected him to be serious. Suddenly Tony flashed her a playful smile and announced boldly, "Pep, you worry too much. You seem to forget that I'm Ironman!"

"Yes I know you are, but Tony you are also human!" Pepper snapped, the sudden anger exploding from her stomach. Tony Stark was the only human on the face of the planet who would make her sad then angry in the matter of seconds.

Tony had simply shrugged then responded under his breath that maybe she should have a little more faith in him, and what he was doing. Pepper snorted she was so angry, and it only encouraged a laugh from Tony who seemed to think her sudden change in emotion was hilarious.

"Hey Pep, can you do me a favor?" Tony requested watching Pepper about to go on a verbal rampage about Tony's new responsibilities to Maria. Pepper clenched her teeth trying to swallow the anger in her chest.

"What?" She asked picking Maria up who had stopped at the foot of Pepper and tugged on her dress to show her something she had picked up off the ground. Tony had realized what Maria was holding long before Pepper did, but had decided not to say anything until after she agreed to what he wanted.

"Stop worrying about me, and worry about Maria. How about you take one of my credit cards, and buy Maria something she wants? She'll like that, and hey while you're at it buy something for yourself!"

"Okay fine! Anything else ?" Pepper pleaded her frustration slowly winding down.

"Yeah, don't let Maria pick up anymore bugs. She might try to make you eat them!" He laughed pointing to the unnaturally large squirming beetle in Maria's hand. Pepper's eyes widened when she saw the bug in Maria's hand, and quickly grabbed Maria's small wrist and with a jerk forced Maria to drop it.

"Ew, Maria no!" Pepper had screamed, jumping back from the large bug on the floor. Tony had begun to laugh, watching as Pepper ran out of the bugs path.

"You are such a jerk Tony!" Pepper cried pulling Maria closer to her as she apologized to Pepper for scaring her.

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"Mama, me want." Maria had said as they watched a man hold up a large Scarlet Macaw for all of the children to see. The large bird did a strange dance on the man's arms and said something along the lines that he loved his trainer.

"You want what sweetie?" Pepper asked avoiding the sharp turn from Maria's head. Pepper blinked wildly in attempt move away from the danger of Maria's head meeting with her face.

"The irdy." Maria said simply watching the man continue to do tricks with the well trained bird. Children gawked and squealed in excitement as if the bird was doing the most amazing things on the face of the planet.

"No Maria your father doesn't like …." Suddenly a small smile spread across Pepper's face.

"You know what Maria, you can have a bird. We will get you that one right there!" Pepper said pointing to the red macaw the animal trainer was holding. Maria bounced up and down in Pepper's lap she was so excited. A few people had shot Pepper annoyed glances after hearing her small conversation with Maria but Pepper didn't care.

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Being tired was an understatement to Tony. No matter how pumped up he was before he left for a mission he always came home exhausted, and the first thing he wanted to do when he landed in the garage was find his daughter for a much needed father daughter snuggle time.

As Tony slowly made his way up the stairs he gently rubbed the back of his neck his eyes closed as he tried to release the tension, in his shoulders. His tired feet had finally reached the top floor as he silently padded his way into the kitchen to get something to drink when a friendly childish "Hello! Hello! Hi!" echoed through the house.

Tony had stopped to look around the room for the new voice, to see a large red colorful bird sitting on the back of one of Maria's plastic chairs while Maria served it tea. Tony felt his heart stop as his daughter passed it a tea cup and the creature reached out with its claw and grabbed it from her small hand.

"Hello! Thank you!" The red macaw chattered bobbing up and down after he had dropped the tea cup Maria had given it. Maria seemed to ignore that a dangerous bird that was just hovering inches away from her.

"Maria!" Tony called in a bit of a panic, both Maria and the bird turned to see him standing by the fountain his face a little pale. The monstrous bird watched as Maria happily called out to her father and came running her arms in the air for him to pick her up.

In a swooping motion Tony picked up his daughter and hid behind a wall. Maria happily chattering about something in her unknown language.

"It's a ird, da-da, an ird!" Maria happily sang as she tried to point at the monstrous creature she could no longer see. Tony pulled his daughter closer to him, and peered around the wall to see if the bird was there to discover it was not.

"I see that Maria, where is your mother?" He asked in a panic, when he heard the soft clicking of what had to be the bird sneaking around the floor.

"MAMA! MAMA!" Maria yelled before Tony could shush her with his large hand over her small mouth. Tony's eyes wildly scanned his daughters face, confusement and bewilderment in her blue eyes. The house was silent except for the soft fall of the water fountain.

"Peek-a-boo! Peek-a-boo! I see you!" The red monster had called at Tony's feet as it rounded the corner. Tony didn't even think twice to see where the bird was before he ran Maria in arms to the kitchen where he climbed up on the counter and begun screaming at J.A.R.V.I.S to find Pepper.

Tony and Maria silent waited on the counter for Pepper, as the clicking of nails echoed through the house, as the bird attempted to find him. Tony's heat began to beat faster as he watched a small shadow make it's was closer to the kitchen.

"Molly, what are you doing?" Pepper's voice had suddenly rang and Tony had called out for Pepper's help as the demon bird loomed closer and closer to the kitchen. A much larger shadow covered the demon birds, and before Tony could register what was happening Pepper walked into the kitchen holding Monster Bird on her hand. Pepper had a look confusement her face when she had seen Tony and Maria on the counter.

"Tony, what are you doing?" Pepper asked, as the bird moved around on her hand looking around the kitchen curiously.

"Pepper, what are YOU doing? You are holding a demon bird!" He huffed crawling to the opposite end of the counter, to stay as far as possible away from the demon bird.

"Daemon bird? Oh, you mean Molly! Molly is Maria's new pet!" Pepper said, as soon as the word pet had left Pepper's mouth Maria screamed happily, and started to ramble on about birds.

"No!" Tony said firmly, both to the new pet and to Pepper who was slowly approaching him with a wicked smile on her face.

"Well you said I could get her anything she wanted, and she wanted a bird. You're not going back on your word now are you Tony?" Pepper asked quickly taking a few steps to watch Tony sprint away the same distance.

"It's a ird Da-da! A red ird!" Maria cried excitedly by his ear.

"No, I don't go back on my birds… I mean words! But you twisted my words!" Tony exclaimed, moving father and father away from the slowly approaching Pepper.

"Well then, welcome to the family Molly! I have a feeling you will love it here!" Pepper boasted with a smile, she knew she had won. Molly bounced on Peppers hand, as they both left the kitchen.

"Bye bye ird!" Maria sang her little hand grabbing Tony's dirty shirt.

"You had to pick a bird didn't you Maria!" Tony mumbled pulling her closer to his chest. Maria laughed not understanding what he had said rambling on about nothing.

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I didn't want to say anything at the beginning, but I totally know how Tony feels with large birds. My mom came home with a cock-a-too a few years ago, and I think my heart stopped when I walked down stairs and it (Henry) was staring at me.

**Please Review, it makes me want to post more.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Needs to be beated. **

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Pepper never used a purse, so when Maria had started snatching and digging through purses of her employees at work she could understand the excitement they had held for her, but Pepper had still deemed the behavior unacceptable. Even if the purse owners had assured Pepper that it was alright for Maria to play with their belongings. .

"Maria, no!" Pepper gently snapped, pulling the bag from her fingers. Maria wined watching as her mother placed the newest purse out of her grasp. A look of pure frustration passed Maria's face as her eyes greedily stared down her latest lost treasure.

Trying not to be frustrated Pepper handed her, her stuffed rabbit that she had been holding onto for quite some time. Maria accepted it and sat down a few yards away from Pepper. A sigh of relief passed through Pepper's lips. She could finally finish talking to the people she needed to.

It was unusual for Pepper to take Maria into work with her but today, Maria seemed unreasonably attached to her and the process of leaving her at home was painful. She and Tony had figured it would be much easier for her and Pepper to spend quality time together, but first Pepper needed to get some things out of the way.

When Pepper had finally finished talking to a small blond woman, she turned around to find Maria happily sitting on the floor her rabbit under her arm, and digging through someone's purse.

"Maria, I said no!" Pepper was frustrated with her determination, she was as stubborn as her father, and it only made her life more difficult. Once again Pepper grabbed the purse from Maria and started throwing all its contents back inside. Angry Maria grabbed for the purse, and Pepper pulled it out of her reach.

A strange look crossed Maria's face, something between anger and frustration. Then Maria let out a wail and started stomping her feet on the ground. People's attention was now fully on Pepper and her screaming child as Maria threw a tantrum she had never witnessed before.

"Me want! Me want!" She screamed once again grabbing for the purse Pepper was holding. Pepper wouldn't let her have it and this seemed to make matters worse.

"Maria, I said no." Pepper explained softly trying to get Maria to calm down. Pepper had tried to not let the frustration get the better of her, but lost her patience when Maria threw herself to the ground and continued to scream.

"Okay fine then, we will just go home!" Pepper snapped trying to pick up Maria who stiffened out so any grip on her was impossible. This seemed to fuel Maria's anger because when Pepper had finally gotten an uncomfortable grip on her she stated to kick.

The walk to the car was painful, awkward, and embarrassing. When Pepper had reached the parking lot Happy was waiting for her, and together they both buckled the screaming child into the car. The car ride was similar to Pepper's exit at work, Maria continued to kick and scream until they pulled into the garage. By then Pepper was rubbing her temples, and barely caught the glimpse of Tony watching them in confusement.

He understood when Pepper had opened the back door of the car and struggled to get Maria out of the car. Once again Maria stiffened her body out so Pepper couldn't get a proper grip on Maria. Pepper almost dropped Maria when she suddenly started struggling again.

Pepper laid her down on the pavement and simply walked away. She could feel the anger and frustration building up in her chest. "Deal with it!" she snapped when she walked past Tony who was confused by the current situation he was just thrown into.

Pulling the glass doors open Pepper stormed out of the garage silence filling the stairway when the door behind her hissed closed. The frustration continued to build until she reached the living room and flopped down on the couch. Pepper pulled her hair out of its tight bun and ran her fingers through her soft locks. Slowly the frustration and anger started to unwind from her system. But a new feeling started to settle in; failure.

She had done the right thing, she had walked away from the situation handing it over to someone else who was better adapt to handle it. But it didn't stop her from feeling like she could have, and should have done better. Her tearful eyes scanned the room, it was littered with toys. Pepper let out a sigh of frustration as she started to clean up the large mess, tossing toys back into the bin at the end of the couch.

The hiss of the door downstairs shutting had drawn Pepper's attention as she watched Tony walk up the stairs, Maria's face was tucked into Tony's neck. He gave her a soft smile before continuing up the stairs to her room. Pepper found herself following the duo and watching as Tony gently laid Maria down in her bed. He had pulled the covers over Maria's little body, and ran a few fingers over her forehead, brushing her hair out of her sleeping face.

Maria's face was blotchy, and damp spots still stained her pale cheeks. With a final brush of his fingers, Tony slid off of Maria's large bed and silently made his way out of her room closing the door behind him.

"Is she okay?" Pepper whispered, Tony rubbed the back of his neck in deep thought. In truth the situation that Pepper just threw on him in the garage had worn him out. Nothing he tried had seemed to calm Maria down.

"Yeah, she passed out on the floor a little after you left." Tony scrunched his face up as he spoke, and Pepper knew he was thinking, about what exactly she didn't know. She wasn't sure if she wanted to know.

"I don't know what I did wrong! One minute she was happy and the next she was throwing a colossal tantrum! Maybe I'm a bad Mom, maybe I'm not cut out to do this, Tony I…." Tony had caught Pepper off when he placed a hand over her mouth, her face scrunched up in confusion.

"Don't ever talk like that!" Tony said, his voice was firm and serious. Anyone would have been surprised to hear Tony talk the way he was. "You're the _only_ Mom Maria has, and you do more than an amazing job."

Slowly Tony pulled his hand away from Pepper's mouth and gripped her shoulders gently before leaving her in the hallway to think to herself.

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**Please review. It makes me want to write more. **


	18. Chapter 18

**Needs to be betaed! **

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Tony had hissed in frustration when he had shaved a little too much of his facial hair off, but in all actuality he had ruined the style of his mustache. As he stood in front of the mirror he had decided to completely shave his facial hair off. Maybe the change would be nice, and it would also save him the embarrassment of having uneven facial hair. When he was finished he ran his hand along his clean shaven face, he felt naked, but like all hair it would grow back and he would deal with it later.

The house had an eerie quietness to it, as he slowly made his way through his morning routine. This included making the green, mush of drink he liked. Today was a special day for Tony because he excitedly waited for Maria to return greet Maria from her first ever sleepover. Pepper had taken her to visit her mother who was extremely excited to spoil Maria.

A grandmother for his child was even more then he could ask for, and since his parents were dead, someone who wanted to be Maria's grandmother made him happy. His daughter would group up to experience not only having a mother, but a loving grandmother as well.

Once again he ran his hand over his jaw as he impatiently waited for Pepper and Maria to come home. It had only been 24 hours and he missed them both. It made him wonder what he was going to do when Maria would leave for college, university, or even to start her only family. The thought worried him, but he figured he would cross that bridge when he got to it, and right now he wanted to spend as much time as possible with his daughter.

"Sir, they have arrived." Jarvis's voice echoed through the house. Tony almost threw what he was holding across the kitchen as he quickly stumbled down to the garage, he had to stop and compose himself when he first entered bushing invisible dirt off his suite.

Pepper was pulling things out of the car to get to Maria who was happily swinging her legs in her car seat with some type of cookie in her hands. "Hey Pep, do you need any help?" He asked, Pepper knew what he really wanted, he wanted Maria. Tony had no real interest in helping her unpacking or cleaning up any kind of mess.

"Tony, if you want Maria you can have her!" Pepper laughed moving away from the back passenger doors and to the trunk where she began to pull things out, setting them neatly on the floor. Tony's heart nearly skipped a beat when he reached the door to pull his daughter out.

Suddenly Maria jerked away from him and screamed dropping the cookie she was happily munching on. An over whelming feeling swelled in his chest, there was something wrong with his daughter and he didn't know what. It was the same feeling he had when Maria had been rushed to the hospital with a fever.

His internal instincts kicked in and he grabbed for Maria who pulled away. She began kicking at him in defense but it didn't do much since the car was facing in a direction that it did next to no effect on him.

"No, no stranger bad!" She yelled as she frantically kicked at Tony. Tony stopped trying to pull her from her car seat and stopped long enough to stare at her. He didn't understand why she was upset about a stranger, until it clicked in his mind that he had shaved his facial hair off earlier, and she could not recognize him. His new revelation hurt, not because she didn't recognize him, but because he released how badly the abuse had affected his daughter. She was utterly terrified of new men, and the reason it had never been so bad before was because she felt safe. In a situation without someone she trusted she would completely unable to make a decision.

"Shhhh, Maria it's okay! It's only Daddy!" Tony said slowly unbuttoning his top to show her the 'night light' in his chest. Maria recognized it immediately, because she knew only one person in the world had a night light in their chest and that was her father.

"Da-da scary! Da-da scary!" she repeated wiping the tears out of her eyes with a dirty sleeve. Tony gently grabbed her face with both hands and rubbed the tears off her cheeks. He watched as she fought the urge to pull away from him not fully understanding the only thing that he had changed out himself would in fact grow back in a couple of days.

"It's okay Pumpkin, I would never hurt you!" Tony softly explained to her, Maria nodded her head almost as if she completely understood everything he was saying to her. Gently Tony pulled her out of her car seat, pulling her small body into his chest and kissing the top of her head.

"I could never life with myself if I did!" He said softly.

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**Please review. It makes me want to write more **


	19. Chapter 19

**A really, really short chapter. **

**Needs to be betaed!**

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Maria liked her father's computers. They were always flashing pretty pictures of cars, and pictures of their family. One of the pictures was of Rhodey fast asleep with Maria in his arms. Maria would get excited when she saw this picture and called out for Odie. Sometimes Tony would call Rhodey so he could hear Maria talking loudly in the garage, "Odie, come see, on puter!"

Maria had attempted hundreds of times to play with Tony's computers and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't keep her away from them. He had even tried sitting down with her curled up in his lap and showed her kid friendly games, videos, and even pictures. Tony had settled with just picking her up and softly telling her they were 'daddy's toys'.

Maria could not understand why she wasn't allowed to play with her father's toys. She did after all share with him!

One afternoon Tony had gently pulled her into the garage and gently placed her in her play area before turning to his broken suit. Today was one of the rare days where he couldn't find anyone to watch Maria for a couple of hours. So he had requested Jarvis to keep an eye on her. The computer complied and he soon set off to work on his armor.

Keeping Maria away from his work station had never been a problem because she was terrified of the Ironman suit. If Tony was working she would stand on the outskirts of his bench and patiently wait to show him something. She often referred to the suit as 'the munster' and would walk a large distance around it. There were a couple of occasions where she would walk towards the display of suits in the garage but would quickly run away once she got to close.

Tony had been working for over an hour when he had noticed that he needed to do a bit of welding. He had quickly glanced at Maria, and tried to configure if it was safe to do so. He had quickly decided that he would have Jarvis inform him if Maria got too close. That way she would be safe if she decided to creep up on him. With a final glimpse he slid on his protective eye gear and started to weld various spots on his suit.

Tony never saw Maria slowly make her way towards him holding a piece of scribbled on paper. She waited patiently for him to take notice of her, and soon gave up leaving the small piece of paper on the floor for him to find. When she turned around her eyes drifted to the computers. Looking over her shoulder she had decided it was safe to play with her Daddy's toys.

Silently she made her way over and pulled herself up in the chair with difficulty. The chair swerved oddly, and for a moment Maria panicked. When the chair stopped swerving, she quickly started to press buttons. She watched as the screen opened windows and suddenly she was lost in her own world.

"Sir?" Jarvis spoke loudly, interrupting Tony's work. "I do believe Maria is into something she shouldn't be!"

Tony quickly shut down everything he was working on and lifted the eye protection off his head. He was breathing heavily, and sweat was pouring down his body. His eyes quickly scanned the room looking for his mischievous daughter, and he found her sitting at his computer. She didn't seem to notice that her father had stopped welding because when he approached her and gently pried her fingers off the mouse she jumped. Swiftly she turned around to see who had approached her, her eyes were wide and her mouth was slightly ajar.

Maria quickly gave her father a shy smile. She was trying to get out of trouble and Tony knew it so he chuckled as he gently patted her head. "Well I guess I'm not going to work today!" Tony said softly picking Maria up and settling her back in his lap, so they could both play on the computer together.

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**Thank you for the reviews, I love reviews, please leave some more!**


	20. Chapter 20

This chapter feels uncompleted to me. That's possibly why I've held onto it for so long. But I really can't think of what else to say.

**Needs to be beated.**

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Tony loved his daughter, but when she turned three and slowly started to speak more, she was able to have more intelligent conversations with him. All conversations he had with his daughter were still on a PG level, but he had found that his daughter was now more fun to play with than ever before.

She still continued to be shy, often hiding behind Tony when she met new people and would continue to hide behind him until she was sure she could trust anyone. Mostly women thought this was impossibly cute, and would often bend down to Maria's eye level and talk to her. Most of the time Maria would remain silent, pressing her face into the back of his legs, but there was the odd time where she would respond.

Her language skills were still in development so sometimes it was hard for people to understand what she was saying. It wasn't uncommon for people to scrunch their faces up in confusion and look at Tony for guidance. Most of the time he knew what she was saying, but like all children she sometimes made up words.

Tony, Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy were thankful that people could rarely understand what Maria was saying because Maria had a habit of saying some not so nice things. They had all come to the understanding that typically the things that Maria said were not meant to be hurtful, but were merely and observation, or pure curiosity. That like all children her age, she did not understand that somethings should not be said, and that words could hurt someone's feelings.

Pepper and Tony had the misfortune of being with Maria once when large women had taken interest in Maria. She had bent over to tell Maria that she was a lovely looking child, and that she loved the dress she was wearing. Maria had responded shyly, telling the woman that she liked her second chin. The women had not taken Maria words kindly and quickly shuffled off to talk with other people.

Maria loved to talk to her 'family', and often would babble on to anyone in the room who was listening. She would talk about her hair, or favorite TV show, how much she loved her parents, and at times she would tell them a story she made up. This is the part of Maria that Tony never wanted to share with anyone outside of their family, because it was special to him, and to him the conversations his daughter had, meant the world to him.

Tony had tried to be openly as possible with his daughter, because when he was growing up there were things he was never allowed to talk about. He also never had a close relationship with his father, and at times he felt rejected and unloved. He never wanted that with Maria so he was always encouraging her to talk. They had many conversations. But his favorite would always be the explanation she had given of his arc reactor. He loved it so much that every so often he would ask her to tell it again, and she would go off on an epic explanation. Sometimes the story would change but the end was always the same:

"_Once upon a time, they took Daddy!" She would say. _

"_Who took Daddy, Maria?" He would ask. _

"_The-the bad men." She would reply pointing at no one I'm particular. _

"_What did they do to Daddy?" Tony would lean forward to watch his daughter. _

"_They broked his heart." Maria would say seriously with a frown. _

"_And why would they do that?" Tony could feel the smile spread across his face._

"_Because their bullies." Maria would say. _

"_So what did Daddy do?" He would ask. _

"_Daddy made a new heart." Maria said softly._

"_And why would Daddy do that?" Tony could feel the swell in his chest as he prepared himself for what she was going to say next._

"_So he could love Maria."_

It was understandable to Tony that Maria thought the arch reactor was his heart, and no matter how many times he had explained it to her it he couldn't convince her otherwise. He quickly learned to accept what she thought the reactor was. In time he figured it was better for Maria to not fully understand what happened to him. What had happened to him was terrifying; he didn't want Maria to have a full understanding of it until she was a bit older.

She very rarely asked questions about the cave and they were never complex questions, but Tony still found it hard to answer them. Talking about his kidnapping was at time painful even if her questions were in fact childish, biased on her pure curiosity, and her misunderstanding.

-"Did you sleep with your teddy bear?"

"No, I don't have a teddy bear,"

-"Did you eat pa-getti?"

"No, they fed us leftovers."

-"But you don't like leftovers Daddy!"

There was even the odd time where Maria, had made up stories about his kidnapping. Telling him tall tales of how he escaped, among other incidents that happened in the cave. He couldn't understand her fascination with it, and sometimes when Maria talked about it he would get frustrated. He would firmly tell her they weren't going to talk about it anymore and she would look at him confused.

Pepper on the other hand remained calm at all times with Maria, and when she asked questions about his kidnapping explained it to her on a level that Maria could understand. This usually got Maria to stop talking about his kidnapping after a few minutes, and then she would be onto asking other questions or talking about anything.

Pepper and Maria talked about more 'girly' things then what he would talk about. Their conversations were usually filled with princesses, colors, kittens, and any other thing little girls liked to talk to their Mothers about. Tony normally wouldn't join in on these conversations, because frankly he was always lost with 'girl things' and left them up to Pepper.

Pepper loved their conversations, she would secretly tell her mother about them all the time, and her mother enjoyed hearing about the things Maria talked about. But Pepper's favorite thing Maria had ever said had came on as a surprise to her. One afternoon when they were coloring on a glass table she spoke up loudly.

"When I growed up, I want to be pretty like you Mommy."

Maria didn't second-guess what she said; instead she continued to scribble on her paper like nothing had ever happened. Pepper remained shocked for a few seconds, sure she had been told she was pretty before, and sure she had fans tell her they wished to be like her one day. But there was something about Maria's admiration for her that stuck home.

When Pepper's mind came back to planet earth she whispered for Maria to come sit in her lap. Where Pepper proceeded to kiss the top of Maria's head and tell her how much she loved her.

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Thank you for the reviews. They make my day!

Please leave some more.


	21. Chapter 21

**Like all of my stories still needs to be betaed.**

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Pepper always made breakfast on Saturdays. It was something her Mother use to do, and now it was something she wished to pass onto Maria. Besides that Tony couldn't cook to save his life, and it wasn't uncommon for Maria to push aside whatever he made.

After breakfast Tony and Maria curled up on the couch and watched T.V together. There was the odd weekend Tony would disappear for a few hours but Maria didn't seem to mind, because she knew at some point on Saturday, her father would come home, and they would curl up on the couch and watch their shows.

Tony's favorite show was always the show they saved for last, because he knew that not only was it his favorite, but it was also Maria's favorite. He also knew that if he played their show first Maria would quickly lose interest with the TV, which also meant that they wouldn't spend the large amount of time they spent snuggling as they did. So Transformers, was always the last show they watched.

Tony couldn't be more then pleased when Maria had taken a strange liking to Transformers, because he figured with all the princess things that Pepper had gotten her into that she would want to watch overly girly shows, that generally made him bored to watch.

Maria in fact didn't care much for the newer shows on T.V. She liked very old school cartoons, like the ones kids would have watched on Saturday mornings in the 80's. Not that Tony cared, sure the graphics, sounds, and story lines were a bit crappy, it was also hard for him to find the shows, but he wouldn't trade watching stupid old Saturday morning cartoons with his daughter because it was their 'thing'.

Saturday mornings always started off with a shower, Maria usually followed, even if she had a bath the night before. Maria hated having baths, but she would jump at the chance to shower with her parents, which was frustrating if they were on a tight schedule.

But it was on this particular morning that Tony had been woken up to Maria walking around the upper floors and into his room. He rolled his eyes to check the time on the clock to realize that Maria was up a few minutes earlier then usual and that he should be getting ready for a meeting at lunch.

Tiredly he ran his hands over his eyes as Maria watched him curiously. She never quite understood why her Dad had trouble sleeping some nights, because she was too little to understand that sometimes, Daddy had nightmares.

When Tony was finished rubbing his eyes with one hand, he used the same hand to gently rub Maria's head. Her hair took after his, so it was always a mess when she woke up. She was also much like him that when she woke up, she remained groggy for a little while.

Rubbing his eyes one last time he pulled himself out of bed, scooping up Maria, and headed to the bathroom where they would take their ritual Saturday morning shower.

Usually it was halfway through their shower when Maria started to talk, as well as play with the large number of things he had accumulated in the shower with a child. But today Maria seemed with drawn, and this had caused him a little bit of concern.

He pulled Maria from the shower after he was sure she was clean and quickly checked her ears for any sign of infection, as well as her for head for a fever. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when he discovered she was fine, then like every morning he slipped the hearing aids into her ears as she squirmed. She then ran away from him before he could dress himself.

Maria quietly made her way down the stairs backwards, and to the main floor where she passed the waterfall with her starfish, and into the kitchen where Pepper was tiredly cooking Saturday morning breakfast. Maria quickly buried her face into the back of Pepper's knees.

"Well, good morning!" Pepper said as she struggled to unhook Maria from the back of her legs. Maria was almost uncooperative with her until she managed to get Maria settled on her hip.

Breakfast was ready a few short minutes later, and Maria quickly settled down in her chair as Pepper poured herself a glass of orange juice.

"Ma-ma?" Maria asked looking at her food oddly. Pepper was drinking her juice and gently grunted a strange noise allowing Maria to know that she was listening.

"How come Daddy looks funny 'a-ked?"

Pepper spit out the orange juice she was drinking, and began to choke on the juice that was on its way down her esophagus. Her eyes began to water as she looked over to Maria who was intently waiting for an answer. She was hoping Maria hadn't asked what she had, but the look on Maria face told her that she had heard correctly.

"Well-ah?" Pepper rambled trying to figure out what to say, but her mind was blank. What should she say? And where the hell was Tony! Pepper's mind tumbled over the various things she could say, and the only thing she could come up with was the truth. Not the _whole _truth but enough for Maria to understand.

"Well, Daddy looks funny naked because he's a boy." Pepper said softly, trying her hardest not to choke on her words. Maria's eyes remained on Pepper as her little mind tried to process what her Mother was trying to tell her.

"But Mommy, you don't look funny 'a-ked!" Maria said, not quite understanding what Pepper was trying to tell her. Pepper ran her hand over her forehead and she could feel the heat rising to her cheeks.

"That's because Mommies are girls." Pepper's words were completely lost on Maria because Maria scrunched her face up in confusion. Pepper let out a deep sigh.

"You know how you look kind of like Mommy naked?" Pepper questioned waiting for Maria to shake her head in agreement, when Maria did Pepper continued. "That's because girls look different than boys naked, girls have a …_vagina_."

Pepper could feel the heat rising to her cheeks as Maria attempted to say her new found word. After Maria gave up Pepper continued, "Daddies are boys, and boys look different naked because…" Pepper swallowed nervously "they have a penis."

"e-nis!" Maria simply stated as she nodded her head and grabbed for something off the table.

"Do you understand?" Pepper asked, she wanted to make sure that Maria understood for a number of reasons. One of them being so they wouldn't have to have this conversation again, even if she knew, they would have to. Maria nodded her head, no longer interested in what Pepper had to say.

Pepper checked just to be sure. "So what do Mommy and Maria have?"

Maria paused and thought about the question before saying a strange word that sounded similar to the answer Pepper was looking for. Pepper let out a sigh of relief as she began to clean up the mess she made.

She was filling up a plate for Tony when he came down the stairs tugging at one of his many ties. The room was silent until Maria looked up from her food and shouted out "Daddy! You have an e-nis!"

An awkward silence hung over the room as everyone looked at Maria with shocked looks on their faces. Tony not understating that Maria and Pepper had a conversation prior to him coming down stairs spit out an almost unrecognizable 'what?'

This allowed Maria to explain to her father, in mismatched words the difference between boys and girls. Tony's eyes were wide with terror as his three year old explained to him not only her body parts, but his.

When she was finished he coughed a little trying to figure out what he should say. Maria looked to Pepper when her father hadn't responded and asked her very softly 'right Mama?' to which Pepper nodded her head very embarrassed, and appraised Maria.

Maria continued on eating her breakfast as Tony still stood in the kitchen flabbergasted over what had just happened. It explained why Maria had acted so strangely in the shower earlier, and in a way he expected this to happen. Maria after all couldn't shower with her parents for the rest of her life.

Pepper had looked at Tony, her face was twisted in such a way that she was trying to tell him, she was sorry. Tony tightly clenched his jaw and finally spoke for the first time since Maria's long explanation. "Looks like someone won't be showing with me anymore." He said calmly, Pepper tried to hold back a giggle.

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**Thank you for the reviews. **

**Please feel free to review more. Their the only reason I post stuffs.  
**


	22. Chapter 22

**Needs to be betaed.**

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"Maria, put your clothes on." Tony yelled over the T.V as he watched his stark naked daughter sit on the floor. She looked over her shoulder slightly to see what he had to say before laying down on the floor. He wished she was simply ignoring him, but he knew she couldn't hear him. Earlier that morning Maria had started to show signs of another ear infection, she was irritable, and cranky. So he made sure that today her hearing aids were left out of her ears.

This had left Tony to become very frustrated with his daughter; he tossed one of his tools on the bench before walking over to her scooping her up in his arms. She screeched not expecting him to grab her. Quickly he picked up all of her discarded clothing, and Maria started to wiggle quickly figuring out what he was planning.

The process to put her clothes back on was long and difficult as she struggled around twisting her body in ways he couldn't believe was possible. It was hard trying to be careful, he was much stronger than her, and he knew that he could easily break her bones. He did after all bend metal with his bare hands.

When he was finished slipping clothing on her she gave him a nasty look, quickly removing herself from his presence and over to the T.V. The sight made him chuckle slightly, because as soon as she wanted something, she would be his little snug-a-bug.

Tony's attention was removed from his daughter when J.A.R.V.I.S announced that Happy was pulling in the garage. A look of confusion crossed Tony face, as he watched Happy's car pull into the garage, stopping a safe difference from Maria.

Happy's appearance didn't go unnoticed, and as soon as he stepped out of the car Maria was excitedly lifting her arms up in the air so he could pick her up. A laugh of joy escaped Happy's lips as he picked Maria up, holding her above his head, as she squealed in delight.

Welcome home greetings from Maria were the best; no one else would get as excited as she did when they walked through the door.

"Hey what are you doing here?" Tony asked, pushing himself out of the crouched position he was in. Happy had Maria tucked into his hip, like always Happy had a smile on his face.

"Maria has a Doctor's appointment, Sir." He said as he opened the back of the car and started to buckle Maria in. Maria didn't seem to care at all what Happy was doing and instead happily babbled on about her newly learned body parts (Thanks to Pepper). Happy, having a large number of nieces and nephews didn't seem fazed by anything Maria said, even when she started asking people what kind of body parts they had.

Tony was grateful for this, because a three year old talking about reproductive organs was extremely embarrassing, and it was also partly the reason he hadn't taken Maria out in a while. He wanted her to get it 'out of her system' until her reintroduced her to society. If Maria were a normal child she wouldn't have to worry about the media making a big deal out of the things they did, or talked about.

"Oh, why didn't I know about this?" Tony asked as he ran his hands down the back pockets of his pants checking for his wallet which was thankfully there. It was a new habit of his, carrying around his wallet that had all of Maria's information in them.

"Pepper made the appointment this morning sir!" Happy said with a smile as he held the opposite door open for Tony who slipped in.

The cars Happy drove were all bought by Tony. They all had leather seats that could be heated, as well as other features that people could only dream of. As Happy pulled himself into the car Tony slid across the seat pulling open a small screen on the back of the driver's seat and turning on the last DVD that was inside.

The car ride was particularly silent as Tony looked through his cell phone checking all his missed messages as Maria watched Mighty Machines on the screen. Every so often Maria's mismatched singing of the theme song could be heard in the otherwise silent car.

Maria's doctor was the best doctor in the area Tony could find. It took them over a half an hour to drive to her office. Her office was small, with polished floors, and tinted black windows. But even if her office was small, it was hard to get an appointment, unless you were like Tony and donated a lot of money towards her practice.

Maria was content when Tony pulled her out of the back seat, shielding her face from the bright afternoon glow (as well as anyone sneaking to get a picture). She mumbled something about her movie that he barely caught, but he was positive it was something along the lines of wanting to watch the ending.

Happy had moved towards the door, and held it open for father and daughter to pass through. He then returned back to the car where he would wait, watching for intruders. Happy had always done his job well, it was partly the reason Tony paid him so much, that and when they were in a tight fix Happy was more than happy to watch Maria for a few hours. Tony couldn't count the number for times he had walked in on Happy, Maria, her stuffed bunny, and her bird having a tea party. Happy being the one with the most amount of princess clothing on. Happy never seemed to care what Maria did to him, as long as she was happy.

When Tony entered the office everyone's eyes were on him. It wasn't uncommon for people to stare, it was normal. So normal that Tony had learned to accept it, and most of the time he didn't even notice.

A nurse was standing behind the counter and when he approached she swerved her head up her ear still to the phone and smiled. "One moment, Mr. Stark." She softly said, quickly finishing off the conversation on the phone. She shuffled around her desk looking for papers which she picked up and escorted him to another room. Along the way they picked up a small male nurse who looked a little disoriented. Tony had figured he was new to the practice.

Taking Maria to the doctor was always a short trip; he paid a large amount of money into the practice, so he never had to wait when he arrived. The rooms in the doctor's offices were small, but not cramped. The walls were painted with creatures, and in a few rooms had fish hanging from the ceiling. This room did not.

Maria normally would have taken great interest in the paintings on the wall but spent her time eyeing the male nurse from the examination table she was sitting on. When he got close to Maria she would grab out for his hand, and attempted to tug her father in front of her, using him as a human shield. Tony had to reassure Maria that the man would not hurt her, but she was still wary of him, holding onto his hand tightly.

The doctor shuffled into the room only moments later holding onto a file, she was absorbed into her own world as her slim fingers flipped through the many amounts of white papers in it.

Maria's doctor was a tall thin woman, with a long neck and a short brown pixi styled hair. She was older then Tony, and he could tell the how tough her skin was and the large veins that seemed to pop out of the skin on her hands.

"Hello Mr. Stark!" She said, reaching out for him to shake her hand. She had a firm grip and Tony knew that there was a saying somewhere in the back of his mind that correlated to a person's grip during a hand shake, and them being the kind of person you wanted to do business with, but shook it off.

"So how has she been?" She asked, pulling a chair up to Maria who seemed to recognize her. She didn't turn away or coil when the woman got closer, but instead watched her like a hawk.

"Good." He said simply, watching as the Doctor scribbled on a piece of paper nodding her head. "And her ears? Any problems?" she questioned as she scratched out something on her form violently.

He wanted to snap at her that her ears were always a problem, but she knew what she meant, "We think she's coming down with a bit of an infection, she didn't want to put her hearing aids in this morning."

The doctor was silent as she scooted her chair across the floor narrowly missing the confused male nurse and over to a drawer where she pulled out trinkets Tony didn't know the name to. She placed a sanity cap on the end of her device, and then stood over Maria to peer in her ears. A frustrated squeal escaped Maria's lips as the woman stuck the device in her little ears, it was over quickly.

"Her ears look fine Mr. Stark, it's quite common for children at Maria's stage to not want anything to do with their hearing aids. Often the hearing aids irritate their ears just like someone using head phones over a prolonged period of time." A feeling of relief passed Tony's lips over the news, giving Maria ear infection medicine was a pain, no matter what it tasted like.

"Maria has a couple of needles that need to be taken care of, do we want to do that Today, or do you want to make another appointment?"

"We are here, so we might as well do it today." He said simply, he assumed this woman never had children, and didn't understand how big of a hassle it was to pack a child into the car, if he could avoid it he didn't want to come back to the doctors for a long time.

She nodded her head, writing down on the paper, "It's just her flew shot, nothing major." She motioned for the male nurse out of the room, and he awkwardly nodded his head. Silence hung over the room as she finished scratching down on Maria's files, then passed them off to the male nurse when he entered the room holding a vile. She nodded him a thanks, placing the needle on the side table and prepping Maria for the procedure.

Maria was happily playing with Tony's hands tugging at his fingers poking at his knuckles. It was moments like these that he wondered what she was thinking, and wanted to know why she found such interest in things. He had asked her once, and she had given him a strange cryptic response that he couldn't figure out.

Maria didn't look up from what she was doing when the doctor swabbed the area she was going to pierce with her needle. The doctor took this opportunity to move quickly, Maria's head snapped to her side, where she caught a glimpse of the needle only moments away from her skin, she let out loud cry pulling away from the doctor and throwing herself off the high examination table. The commotion had happened so quickly, that he didn't have time to catch her and Maria hit the floor hard, a loud sick crack could be heard from where she landed. Panicked, Tony went to grab for her stumbling over his own feet and missing her when she forced herself up with one arm and ran out the open examination door screaming.

Tony pushed the male nurse out of his way when he went running after his daughter, he didn't care much that he could have hurt the man because he simply stood there watching as Maria ran past him. A few female nurses were in the hallways looking around wildly for a child who had previously ran out of the room. Maria had since stopped screaming and an eerie silence hung over the office.

"Did you see where she went?" The doctor asked as she ran out of the room the nurses standing there nodded their head no, "Lock the doors, don't let anyone in or out, call an ambulance, and tell them to get here as soon as possible."

Tony panicked, "An ambulance?" his brain wasn't working.

"Mr. Stark, when she fell she broke a bone, we have to take her to a hospital to check the trauma." The doctor swiftly turned away from him, allowing him to process the information. She started barking out orders, telling what nurses to look where, adding in for none of them to touch her until she and Tony arrived. She sharply tugged Tony out of his cluster of thoughts, "You have to help us look for her, if she won't come to one of the nurses, she'll come to you."

Searching seemed like an impossible task with his brain running the way it did, he didn't feel human the way he was functioning, and calling out for Maria was painful, because she was not responding. The staff knew she was in the building because there was no way she could have pushed open the doors, she was nursing a broken arm, and she wouldn't have been strong enough to do it on her own.

The search went on for a numbing five minutes, which seemed to be the longest five minutes in Tony's entire life. A small female nurse came running up to him, and the Doctor, motioning for them to follow her. To which she lead the Doctor and himself into a small room and pointed under a table. At first Tony didn't see anything under the table until he saw a lazily discarded ventilation cover.

"The cover is loose, but we usually just rest it up against the hole." The nurse said pointing to the cover that sat flat against the floor. Tony ignored everyone in the room, not taking the advice from the Doctor who told him they should call the paramedics in to grab her.

The vent was large enough for Tony to slide himself in, and as he peered around in the darkness he couldn't see anything, but he could hear the soft movement of someone sniffling.

"Maria?" Tony called out, the sniffling stopped for a second, and he could hear a bit of movement. He lifted himself up a little tugging at the top few buttons on his shirt; this allowed the glow from his reactor to light up a small area. He could see that the vent turned two ways a short distance away from him. Maria could have been anywhere in the vast tunnels.

"Da-da?" Maria softly asked, he could barely hear her, but he was relieved to hear anything. Tony struggled to move forward, pulling himself forward so he could peer around the corners. The light in his chest bounced off the walls, and when he looked down the left tunnel he could see Maria crouched in a corner. If she went in the shafts any further, he was sure they would lose her.

"Da-da!" Maria said crawling forward a little, she was nursing her arm, holding it close to her stomach while the other helped her move along. He turned on his side allowing the light to shine more in her direction. She flinched, as he eyes adjusted to the light.

"Come see!" She said, turning away from him she was attempting to show him what was beyond the second bend he was so terrified for her turning around.

"Maria no!" He yelped reaching forward for her. She jumped at his sudden actions; she was just out of his reach so even if she continued on he couldn't grab her. She calmed down a little to look at him confused.

"Daddy can't fit down there." He tried to explain; she looked at him confused, and struggled to sit down.

"Come see?" she asked again waiting for his response. He sighed in frustration realizing, that she couldn't hear him. He knew he could have talked her into coming out with him, but there was no point in him yelling at her, it would probably scare her off even if she couldn't hear much of it.

He motioned for her to come towards him, she contemplated what he was doing before crawling forward a little, and stopping to make sure that's what he wanted. When she was positive that's what he wanted she crawled over to him, and he remained still in order not to scare her. He was a little surprised when she laid down beside him, using his arm as a pillow. It's not what he wanted, but it was enough for him to get her to calm down. They stayed like this for a little while, Tony pressing his lips to his daughter's forehead. He knew it would be a while, before Maria was brave enough to venture out.

Tony had sat in the vent with Maria for twenty minutes before she fell asleep. It had taken him another ten minutes to pull her out of the vent carefully avoiding her injured arm. He ignored the help the nurses offered when he tried to stand up, and ignored the paramedics on his way out.

He was too angry to deal with any more medical staff for a few moments, and decided that he, and the very panicked Happy would take her to the emergency room. Maria stirred a couple of times, not being able to fall asleep for a long period of time, he assumed this was because of her arm. He was surprised that she could even consider falling asleep assuming she was in so much pain.

Carefully he slid his legs up on the seat and positioned himself so that Maria could lay down on his chest while he shuffled for something in his pocket. He pulled out his slim phone, awkwardly using his thumb to dial Pepper's number. The first time it rang and went string through to voice mail, but on his second try Pepper picked up.

His voice got caught in his throat as he tried to explain to her what was wrong with their daughter.

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**This chapter is a lot longer then normal. Just because I felt bad for being a horrible updater. **

_**Please Review!**_


	23. Chapter 23

_I'm seriously surprised no one has said anything about Warren yet. If anything it makes me feel like a huge nerd. Kudos to the people who make the connection. _

_Story still needs to be betaed, its also short sorry.  
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Warren Worthington was Maria's best friend. Or Tony liked to think so, they played well together. He couldn't be happier that he found someone to be friends with his daughter who also had a very wealthy, upbringing.

It was very common for people to see pictures of Warren and Maria together in the news, the two had been dubbed 'Love Chicks', and people grew ever more excited to see if Maria and Warren would one day get married. It was strange what people in the media came up with, and honestly Tony could see where they got the idea, but hadn't even started to think that far ahead.

Maria getting married was still a long ways away, and if it were up to Tony, his little girl would stay his little girl forever! In this dream world of his, his daughter would never want to move out, and she would be innocent forever. He was completely happy with this dream, but he knew if Maria was anything like he was (Which she was in so many ways) she would get into a lot of trouble.

Pepper on the other hand, was extremely happy that Maria and Warren liked each other so much. She often talked with Warren's mother about how adorable, and lucky it would be if one day Warren and Maria fell in love, and had children of their own. Pepper had this new found urge for more children to be around since Maria came along, and Tony had noticed.

Tony teased Pepper about this, telling her she was a typical girl. Dreaming of romance, and babies. She didn't find it as funny as he did, so he didn't bring it up often. He only usually brought it up, after she had made a silly comment about how cute Maria was, and how she couldn't wait to one day see her get married.

It was a warm afternoon, when Tony had gotten a call from Warren's father. Maria and Warren were playing together using crayons to color Maria's cast. Warren had said he wanted one too, and when his parents refused to give him one, he contently ogled over Maria's.

Warren's father was talking in a fluster, and Tony could barely understand what he was saying. When the man had calmed down enough to explain what was going on, Tony could feel his stomach drop. Warren's mother had been murdered. Tony didn't know how to react, so he simply passed the phone to Pepper who cried.

This was one of the most stressful weeks Tony and Pepper ever had. They had taken Warren in until his father had straightened out various amounts of things. At first the two children didn't seem to mind what was going on until it was explained that Warren's mother was not coming to get him.

At first neither children understood what Tony or Pepper had told them. This led to a lot of frustrating conversations with the children and a lot of anger in Warren. Warren's grasp of what he was being told was a lot better than Maria who simply thought that Warren's mother was coming home soon. That everything was alright.

Warren had done everything to lash out, even taking it out on Maria a few times. This had caused a lot of frustration in Maria, and after a few days she had refused to play with Warren. Warren believed that Tony and Pepper were keeping him from his mother. He would often lash out at Pepper and Tony. Screaming and throw things to get his point across, and it wasn't until her funeral weeks later he finally understood she really was dead.

Maria continued to be completely oblivious to what was going on, and when dressed to attend the funeral attempted to play with Warren who wanted nothing to do with her. Warren understood his mother was never coming back.

In the passing weeks, Warren spent large amounts of time at their house. He was often with drawn, and wanted nothing to do with Maria. Maria was very angry about this and played with her toys by herself, often glaring back at Warren.

"Da-da, I hate Warren." Maria said simply one day, kicking her stuffed bunny at her feet. Tony tried to contain the shocked look on his face as he looked up from what he was doing. A look of anger was etched across Maria's face, and he was positive she didn't understand what she was saying.

"Come here." He said, wheeling his chair out so that she could climb up into his lap. She settled down and he wrapped his arms around her small body, she giggled when his face brushed her cheek.

"And why would you say something like that?" He asked, pulling her closer to him, he had a feeling he understood why, it was just getting to talk about it. She wouldn't understand unless she came to the conclusion herself.

"He won't play with me." She said, tugging at her rugged rabbits ears. He would have thrown the stupid thing out if she didn't love it so much, she would freak it when missing. Just like she freaked out when she couldn't find her animals.

"And why do you think he won't play with you?" He asked Maria shrugged her shoulders innocently. He chuckled and brushed her raven black locks of hair from her eyes.

"Maria, do you understand why Warren has been spending a lot of time with us?" He asked, she shook her head no and looked to him for guidance. Tony sighed trying to figure out a way he could explain this to her so she would understand.

"Maria, Warren spends a lot of time with us because his Daddy is very sad right now." Maria gave her father a strange look, they had already tried to talk to her about Warren's father, but she didn't seem at all interested, and the more they seemed to bring it up the more confused she got.

"Why is he sad?" she asked, she had sometimes seen that her father was sad. But someone had always cheered him up, why wouldn't anyone cheer Warren's Daddy up?

"Because Warren's Mommy passed away." He knew saying she had passed away was a lie, but he didn't want Maria knowing at her age that she had been murdered. Tony also knew that murder would be even a harder concept to explain to someone who didn't even understand what death was.

"Oh okay." Maria shrugged, like it was the most natural thing for her father to say to her. The words meant nothing to her, just like when her mother and father talked about adult things, she didn't understand much of it.

"Do you know what that means?" he asked, Maria shook her head no, her attention didn't seem to be fully on him, so he tugged the rabbit from her hands. She squealed grabbing for it, but he pulled it out of her reach. Tony placed the stuffed animal on his desk.

"Maria listen!" He said sternly, she pouted, crossing her arms in anger.

"Are you listening?" he asked, watching her turn her face away from him, she grunted in annoyance. Not liking anything about the situation she was in. She didn't want to have this conversation any more, she felt like she was in trouble.

"Maria, come on." Tony said, running his hands under her armpits and lifting her up. She stiffened out, and with difficultly he stood her up on his lap so that she was facing him. It was moments like these when she chose to be difficult that they easily became frustrating.

"I'll have your mother explain it to you!" He said finally, pulling her to his lips where he kissed her, she giggled and moved away from his lips like she always did.

"Ma-ma says she's on the moon!" Maria said loudly pointing in a direction that was not the moon. Tony nodded his head in agreement, knowing what she was talking about. Warren's mother was on the moon, that is how Maria interrupted her death, and she didn't seem to understand it in any other way.

"Give me a kiss?" He asked interrupting her babble about moons, and Warren's mother. Maria gave her father a strange look before pressing her lips to his, they were always wet and slobbery. But there was just something about them that he loved.

"Okay now go play nice." He said placing her back on the ground, and directing her towards the play area where Warren was playing with a few cars. He hoped that Warren and Maria would still be the great friends they were, and that it was only a matter of days.

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**Please review the worlds worst, and shortest chapter. **


	24. Chapter 24

Needs to be beated.

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Maria first day of school should have been more exciting then it was. Maria now at the age of three going on four, didn't seem to care much that her father was sending her to Jr. Kindergarten two to three times a week for the whole day.

In fact the first day she arrived at school she seemed so distracted by the large amount of other children, and the new toys she had been presented with that she didn't want her Dad to stay and simply ignored him to play with an old set of trains she seen on top of a small table.

He understood that Maria didn't mean anything by it because later that day when he came to get her she asked him why he wasn't going to go to school with her. She later cried when she found out her father would never be going to school with her.

It was a few weeks later when Tony started receiving messages from the school that they realized that his daughter was in fact a bit of trouble maker when her parents weren't around. Maria was only in kindergarten and she already had a record of behavior that Tony didn't accomplish until grade 3. He wished he could have said he was proud of her, but some of the things she did was phenomenal.

Maria had smashed a train or two over other children heads, refused to listen to her teachers, stripped down completely naked in the middle of class, dumped various amounts of art supplies on the floor, and other unfortunate children, walked out of class when she pleased. Among other things that he couldn't even fathom his daughter doing.

One afternoon when Tony finished pulling out her books from her back pack he opened her planner dreading the messy scribbles from her teacher, of what he liked to call the daily Maria report. Most days he got a report of how well Maria did that day, and anything else that was going on in the school that he needed to know about.

Maria happily munched on the leftovers of her lunch that he always forced her to eat when she got home, which was usually always the sandwiches he made. She told him once that they tasted like sand, to which he wasn't sure if it was a compliment, or if he should be considered about what his daughter was eating in her spare time.

_There seems to be some confusion between Maria about what she wants to be when she grows up. She became quite upset, and had a time out._

The teacher's messages were always vague, this usually meant that he had to call her to find out what she was talking about if he couldn't get it out of Maria. Sometimes talking to Maria was like talking to a convict who knew they were in trouble, you couldn't get anything out of her.

Maria was leaning almost laying on the table eating her sandwich when he shoved her books back into the bag. Maria didn't even look up at him when he started to talk.

"So what did you to at school today?" He asked, which was really code for spill the beans. Maria shoved a large amount of sandwich in her mouth pushing herself up so she could stand on the chair. She said something to him; with her mouth filled with jam sandwich in return this earned her a glace from her father.

"Don't talk with your mouth full." He said, waiting for her to swallow what was in her mouth. Some-days Maria chose what rules she wanted to follow, like any child would. She studied her sandwich before sitting down in her chair.

"Nothing." She said simply shoving more sandwich in her mouth. He tried to ignore the mess she was making, by looking at his hands. His daughter was a messy eater, and he had this overwhelming desire to clean her every time he saw food on her face.

"Nothing? It seems like you had a really boring day." he said watching Maria nod her head in agreement, she stood up and grabbed a colorful red cup that she used to drink her milk out of.

"So then why did your teacher write me a note?" Tony asked pointing to her bag, Maria at that moment knew she was in trouble, so she did what most children in her situation did, she changed the conversation.

"Warren caught a bug today, and then he ate it." She said firmly, like it was the most interesting thing in the world. Tony didn't care what Warren ate, as long as Maria didn't eat it. Maria looked at her Father her eyes wide with hope that her tactic had worked.

"Maria, why did your teacher write me a note?" he asked firmly, resting his hand on the top of the island. Maria sat down in her chair, a look of irritation on her face. She played with the bits of sandwiches in her hands.

"Warren.,," she said loudly before Tony cut her off.

"Did you throw a tantrum at school today? Did you get upset?" He asked looking at her sternly, Maria nodded her head, and she suddenly looked like she was on the verge of tears.

Tony carefully made his way over to Maria where he picked her up in his arms. From there he carefully used his hand to wipe jam off her face and onto his pants.

"Tell me about it?" He asked using a damp rag on the counter to wipe his fingers clean. His pants had failed removing the sticky jam. She nodded her head taking in a deep breath.

"Miss. Donald asked what we wanted to be when we growed up, and I told her I was going to be an avocado, and she said I couldn't be an avocado when I growed up." Maria cried Tony tried tried not to laugh when he heard what Maria wanted to be when she grew up. Most kids would have said something they had seen on T.V like a doctor, or a firefighter. Only his daughter would want to be a fruit. He bit the inside of his lip hard, his actions went unnoticed by Maria.

"Maria you can be whatever you want to be when you grow up, but you can't be rude to your teachers. Okay?" He asked, Maria wiped her own tears away from her face nodding her head in understanding. Tony kissed her temple affectionately.

"So what do you want to be when you grow up?" He asked pressing his forehead against hers. She sighed, thinking about her answer for a second before answering.

"An avocado." She smiled pressing her face into her father's cheek. He laughed, Tony had no idea why she wanted to be an avocado, let alone where she heard of one. Tony tried to say away from certain foods, and tried to be as kid friendly as possible.

"How are you going to pay the bills if you are an Avocado?" He chuckled; Maria pulled away from his face and looked at him confused. This only made Tony laugh more, because Maria had yet to understand the value of money, or even the responsibilities of an adult.

"Don't worry about it." He mumbled kissing her, she laughed pulling away from him and pressing her small hands to his mouth, so he couldn't kiss her any more.

"What are you going to be when you all growed up Daddy?" Maria asked pulling her hands away from his mouth and tucking them near her chest. Tony chuckled swaying around a little with her in his arms.

"I'm already grown up!" He smiled, a shocked look crossed her face.

"Really?" Maria asked surprised, when Tony nodded his head yes. Suddenly Maria let out a loud laugh, if Tony wasn't use to her being so loud he would have cringed at the pitch of her excitement.

"You're silly Daddy! You not all growed up!" she said, grabbing for his lips and stopping him from another kiss he was about to implant on her face. Tony nodded his head in agreement.

"You're right, and your mother would agree with you!" He whispered, walked out of the kitchen and towards the bathroom, where Maria was going to go for a much needed bath.

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Please review, it adds to my inspiration.


	25. Chapter 25

**Needs to be edited.**

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When Warren and Maria got together, trouble seemed to follow them. Tony was never sure how; but he was pretty sure most of the things they did were Maria's ideas and Warren simply either followed, or made these ideas better.

Tony couldn't believe the amount of trouble to two could get into in the matter of minutes. He had turned around once to pull dinner from the stove and somehow the two of them had slapped tar all up the side of one of the walls. He had been furious, coloring on the walls with marker was one thing, but tar was impossibly hard to get off children and walls.

"Look!" Maria said pointing to a bottle on the edge of the counter. Warren studied the bottle not understanding what it was, or why it had been as exciting as Maria thought it was. Warren shrugged his shoulders in an uncaring manner.

"It makes bubbles." Maria said tilting her head back to get a better view of the dish soap. The bottle seemed almost heavenly sitting on the counter, just out of their reach. There were so many things they could do with the bottle, and their heads were spinning with ideas.

Warren gasped up at the bottle before running over to the table where he pulled out a chair. With difficulty he pushed the chair across the floor and over to the counter where he pressed the chair harshly into the counter.

Maria grew more and more excited as she watched Warren climb up onto the chair and stand on the tips of his toes to grab for the soap that otherwise would have been impossible to reach. The bottle was heavy in his hands as he crawled back down onto the seat of the chair and then back onto the ground to Maria who was jumping around in joy.

In seconds the two had started to play with their new prize, their little fingers attempting to pull open the lid of the bottle. Their hearts almost stopped when they heard someone enter the kitchen.

Pepper stepped in talking on the phone and sloppy placing the bags on the counter top before turning to leave to grab the remaining bags from the car. When Pepper was out of sight they quickly snuck out of the kitchen and into the living room.

"Mine!" Maria said reaching for the bottle when they had entered the safety of the living room. Warren jerked back moving the bottle out of her reach, Maria squealed pushing Warren harshly when he refused to give her the bottle.

The bottle to flew out of Warren's hands and slid across the floor before splitting open and leaking out onto the polished floor. Both children stood in shock as they watched the thick liquid spill onto the floor.

Suddenly they both laughed quickly skipping over to the bottle and pulling the broken plastic out of the large puddle of blue soap. Maria quickly discarded the broken pieces of bottle a large glass table centered in the middle of the room.

"Maria look!" Warren said as he slid his feet through the large mass, without warning he slipped falling onto his bottom. For a moment he sat in shocked silence before laughing loudly, Maria quickly joined in the fun.

The puddle of soap suddenly became a slip-and-slide in which both children were running and sliding into, every time one of the children slid through it the slide became bigger and bigger. Their fear of being caught was quickly forgotten as they both inched closer and closer towards the glass windows leading outside.

Maria laughed as she stood up, and ran for their slide quickly sliding across the floor and towards the window at an alarming speed. She hid the glass window with a thud laughing as she tried to stand up.

Warren was laughing hard as he watched Maria try to stand up by the window trying to use her hands on the slippery glass to push herself up. At that moment Warren had gotten an new better idea to add to their game. He took three large steps back before running and throwing himself on the slipper floor.

His body quickly sped across the floor and crashed into Maria who yelped when his body hit hers then screamed when the window she was leaning up against shattered.

At first Warren didn't register what had happened and quickly apologized to Maria not fully understanding the full damage of his body slam into Maria. The sudden fear of being in trouble clutched his heart and he quickly pushed himself out of the glass hissing in pain as a few shards cut his hands.

It was the matter of seconds before Pepper and Tony both came running into the room, Tony quickly registered the scene even before Pepper did, but when tried to run over to Maria who was laying limply in a pool of glass he slipped on an unknown substance on the floor and slammed back first into the ground knocking the wind out of him. Tony was instantly stunned.

Pepper slipped through the soap careful making her way to Maria. Pepper's heart was thumping widely in her chest and for a moment the worst thought came to her mind when she saw Maria lying on her side in a pool of her own blood unmoving.

Her hands quickly gripped Maria's shoulder turning her small fragile body a little to see if she was breathing. A cry of relief parted from Pepper when she saw Maria was in fact still breathing but her eyes were wide open and staring off into nothing.

Pepper choked as she panicked no longer knowing what to do. Maria was in shock her skin seemed to get paler as she lay in the pool of blood and glass. Pepper's eyes quickly scanned Maria's body and when she saw Maria's leg a new wave of panic set in.

"Oh got Tony her leg! I can see bone!" Pepper cried out, she suddenly felt sick and her body swayed a little at the sight. If there ever was a moment Pepper would pass out this would be it.

Two firm hands grabbed Maria pulling her out of the glass. Pepper looked at Tony shocked who quickly took command of the situation pulling his daughter tightly to his chest and moving her out of the glass and over to the couch where he ripped off his shirt and quickly wrapped it around her leg.

"Pepper call 9-1-1!" Tony hollered over the uncomfortably silent room. Pepper remained stunned for a moment before pulling the phone out of her pocket and dialing the number with shaking hands.

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"Is Maria dead?" Warren asked tearful as they waited in a large private room. Warren was on the verge of tears and after warping his hands up, and calling his father he and Pepper waited for his father to show up, as they waited for Tony to return with news of Maria.

"No she's not!" Pepper assured him, the paramedics were quick to respond, and they easily prepared Maria before they even reached the hospital. Pepper couldn't help but feel completely useless. She had frozen up when she ran over to Maria.

When Warren's father finally picked him up, he sat with Pepper for a while before deciding that Warren should go home to sleep. He requested that Pepper called him and let him know tomorrow how Maria was doing, and until then he wished her good luck.

Now alone in the waiting room, Pepper started to wonder what would have happened if Tony wasn't home, would she have sat there in the pool of glass and watched as Maria bleed to death? Or would instincts have kicked in?

She tried not to think about the first option, she tried to reassure herself that she was a good enough parent to finally click into instinct mode, and get Maria the help she needed.

If Maria died, how would she explain that to Tony, how could she live with herself? Pepper could feel the buildup of tears in her eyes, she was useless.

There was a soft knock at the door. Pepper quickly wiped the oncoming tears from her eyes and looked up to see Tony standing in the door way.

"Hey." Tony whispered softly holding Maria in his arms. Her leg was heavily bandaged, and her arms hung limply at her side. Maria's head was resting on Tony's shoulder.

"How is she?" Pepper whispered standing; she almost tripped over her own feet in excitement. She didn't think that Maria would be out so quickly but then again she wouldn't be surprised if Tony paid someone to let them out a little bit early.

Tony awkwardly pulled his head back so he could see Maria's face, her eyes were almost closed as she tried to keep her self-awake, her eye's almost rolling into her eye lids.

"High as a kite." Tony replied resting the bottom of his jaw along his daughter forehead. The sensation was comforting to him after another long night in the hospital. He could feel the dull ache of his back as he held Maria, and the lack of sleep was making him very tired. He wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep.

"We should get going; Maria is going to be out for a few hours." He said softly slowly making his way towards the entrance of the hospital.

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"That kid has been in the hospital more times than I can count." Tony sighed sitting down on the couch beside Pepper. Pepper didn't respond her mind still deep in thought with the events that had happened only hours ago.

Tony groaned stretching his back and hissing in pain when a sharp pain shot up his spine. If there was ever a moment that he felt old this would be it. Tony relaxed into the couch his tired eyes rolling over to Pepper.

"Pep you okay?" He asked sitting up wincing in pain from his back. Pepper's watery eyes looked over to Tony, she thought about lying to him, but when she saw the look of determination on his face she decided that she might as well tell the truth, because Tony wouldn't leave her alone until he figured it out.

"Today when I saw Maria just lying there…." Pepper choked thinking about the thousands of thoughts that ran through her head at that moment. The twisting in her chest she felt earlier returning.

"You thought she was dead?" Tony mumbled rubbing his eyes with one hand. Pepper nodded her head in agreement, her eye brow raised in confusion. How did Tony know what she was thinking?

"Yeah, it's a scary thought." He whispered leaning back into the couch and resting his head on the back with his eyes closed. For a second Tony was silent before opening his eyes and tiredly looking back to Pepper.

"You know that night in the hospital where I asked you to go buy some things for Maria?" Pepper nodded her head, her attention fully focused on what Tony was saying. She would always remember the first night they met Maria, because there could never be another night like it. There was too many emotion's running through the room, and for the first time in her life she had seen a look across Tony's face that truly disturbed her, almost like he was morning.

"I asked you to leave because they told me that Maria had an infection in her lungs and that she might not make it through the night." Pepper almost choked when she heard Tony's confession. She opened her mouth to say something but her words poured out in a messy jumble. Tony gave her a tried smile.

"I know I should have told you, but I just couldn't." Tony chucked rolling his eyes to the ceiling, a silence hung over the room as they both processed what Tony had admitted.

"It was the most horrifying experience in my life, because sometimes I honestly thought she had stopped breathing and this feeling I had never felt before started to swell in my chest. I felt completely useless. The next day, when they told me she was going to be okay; I knew I never wanted to feel that way again." Tony said, Pepper knew the pain he was talking about, she too had experienced it only hours ago, and yet talking to Tony about it made her feel like maybe she was beating herself up a bit too much.

"And yet somehow she manages to get that feeling to creep back." He said pointing towards the missing window in the living room. It had since been cleaned up, and a plastic covering hung over it until someone came to install a new one in the morning.

Pepper softly laughed feeling much better about this afternoon, Maria was okay after all and now that she knew she wasn't the only one who had feelings about uselessness that nagging voice at the back of her mind telling her she was a bad parent dissipated.

"Stop beating yourself up about being a bad parent, Maria is totally in love with you." Tony said, grunting as he stood up from the couch. Pepper's eyes started to water, Tony was right. Maria was completely in love with her. She was always following her around, and sometimes would mimic the things Pepper did.

"Go sleep with Maria, I would but my back might commit suicide!" Tony chuckled leaning over and kissing Pepper's temple. "Goodnight." He said quickly making his way up the stairs.

Pepper remained on the couch shocked.

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Please review :D


	26. Chapter 26

Between getting ready for college, and dealing with my sisters diagnosis of M.S I managed to pump this out!

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There was often times that Tony had to go away on long trips with Pepper that were purely business and though Tony wished he could take Maria with him on many of those trips, he didn't. Tony knew if his daughter was dragged along on these tips that she would quickly get cranky, or even pose as a possible distraction. Even if she was the only thing he could think of when he was away from her.

There were only a few people Tony could trust to take care of Maria besides Pepper, and those few people were Rhodes, and Happy. Both men loved Maria to death, and Maria loved spending time with both of them. This made it difficult to choose who Maria would spend the duration of their trip with. So Pepper had devised a sharing system.

Rhodey's and Happy's _sleep overs_ with Maria were switched back and forth. So both men could spend equal amounts of time with Maria, which they both spent spoiling her. Maria often came home so excited, and built up on sugar that Tony often just stood back and watched as she ran around.

Over time they had both learned that it was always better to expand their trip by one day, so they could come home and sleep for a night then pick up Maria, because neither of them could match the massive amounts of energy she held.

Rhodey was the worst of the two men to spoil Maria. Tony had figured it was because Rhodey didn't have very many nieces and nephews like Happy did, so he had more money to spend on her. But Tony also knew it had something to do with the fact that after he had gotten Maria hyped up on sugar, it was him who he was sending her home to, and Tony would be the one that had to deal with her. It was his way of 'getting revenge' on Tony for all the trouble that he had caused him.

One weekend after Tony had kissed Maria good bye, and wished Rhodey good luck. Rhodey and Maria started off on their adventure. First Rhodey had taken Maria to his mothers, where she was adorned with kisses, and an array of colouring books. They spent a large amount of the afternoon coloring with his mother, and when they left, Maria left his mother with a mass of messily colored pictures that she had entitled boldly: **To Na-na from Maria**.

All of the pictures were proudly displayed on her fridge. The idea of her art work on the fridge delighted Maria, so she made sure there was enough pictures for her father, mother, Happy, and Rhodey each to have on their fridges.

That night Maria and Rhodey ate French fries in front of the T.V as they watched Mighty Machines. Mighty Machines was one of Maria's favorite shows, next to Transformers. Rhodey liked watching Mighty Machines with her because she always excitedly sang the theme song, often wiggling around. She would also tell him about all the machines on the show, about how much she liked them, their purpose, and storied about all the times her dad had taken her to see the big machines.

In some ways Rhodey could see how Maria was very much like her father, she was intelligent, quick witted, and held a fondness for technology. It was one of the reasons why everyone had to hide their cell phones, and put a lot of things out of reach because if Maria got a hold of them, they would get broken.

They had learned the hard way when Maria had taken Pepper's cell phone. At first they had assumed it was harmless fun until Pepper discovered that Maria had deleted all the contacts, dates, and e-mails on her phone.

Tony had found this quite funny until Maria had stolen his phone and gave it to Molly so 'Molly could call her Mommy'. The demon bird had managed to crack the case open and tear the insides apart.

Rhodey always laughed when Tony explained his encounters with the demon bird. Tony hated birds and Maria was so in love with the stupid thing, he had to hire someone to take care of it, because he didn't want to go anywhere near it. Tony had even set up a room in the house for the bird, so he could avoid it as much as possible.

Maria had just finished telling Rhodey a very long story about a time her Dad had taken her to see all the cool 'Might Machines' that were working on one of the new factories he owned.

Her father had allowed her to sit in his lap while together they had dug a hole in the ground using the giant shovel on the front of the machine. She had explained to him how big the machine was, and how someone had taken a picture of them.

When she was done explain her story she suddenly stopped talking and turned her attention to the screen her eyes watched as the credits. She continued to shovel food in her mouth as she waited for the next show to come on.

The credits were cut off and a commercial rolled on about diapers and Maria watched the screen with no real interest. Maria finished shoving the last of her dinner in her mouth as she chewed harshly swallowing the large amount of food in her mouth.

She then picked up the wet face cloth sitting on the table beside her and used it to wipe her own face and mouth. Something Pepper had taught her to do. Usually Maria wiped her face pretty well, but sometimes it seems as if the mess she made eating would remain a permanent addition to her face. Maria completed her task then ran over to Rhodes to get approval.

"Odie?" Maria asked standing beside him for a few minutes in complete silence, he patiently waited for her to continue talking.

"Where do babies come from?" She asked with a straight face. Rhodes could feel the overwhelming embarrassment rolling into his chest as he watched Maria patiently wait for her answer.

"I think that's a question you should ask your parents." He said softly scratching the back of his hand as he nervously watched her face scrunch up in confusion.

"Mommy told me to ask Daddy, and Daddy said that you know more about it than anyone!" She argued her face scrunching up in more confusion then before. Rhodes silent cursed out Tony for telling Maria to ask him, he was not the one who wanted to have the birds and the bee conversation with her.

"Well, uh... when a man and a woman love each other very much." Rhodes eyes turned to Maria who stood beside him wide eyed, awaiting the answer. Suddenly he couldn't find the words to explain to her where babies come from.

"You know what!" Rhodes said standing up startling Maria. He quickly walked over to a phone picking it up and dialing a number on the keypads. Maria watched intently.

"You can ask Grandma Odie, she knows everything." He said firmly, before pressing the phone to his ear and waiting for his mother to pick up. Like always his mother was very excited to hear her son had called her, and very gently told her son that she would explain the 'business' to Maria.

Rhodes sighed as he watched Maria talk to his mother on the phone, asking questions a child would. Like does the baby come out of the Mommies' belly button, or how did Daddy put the baby in there. After an hour when the conversation was over Maria silently handed the phone to Rhodes then went back over to her toys where she played while he finished the conversation with his mother.

"Odie!" Maria said her back to him.

"Yes?" He asked, sitting down on the couch scratching the back of his neck.

"I'm never having babies." She said firmly, ignoring the laugh that sputtered from him.

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_Thank you UnwantedSlag for betaing!_

_Please review, honestly it's the only reason I continue this story at the moment. Dealing with my sister's M.S has slowed down a lot of writing anything but I try to find the time, because I really love reading the reviews. _


	27. Chapter 27

Thank you: newworldwriter1, XxThe Penny TreasurexX, x-Pick'n'Mix-x, Super Ultra Sexy Spockfish, Stark Fan, WriterMonkey0626, brightcat12, and StraightLife116 for the reviews. You guys are awesome.

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After many months of his playful antics, and childish behavior Tony had finally gotten enough courage to ask Pepper Pots out on a date. They had settled with a private dinner in one of the room in his house because they could not for the life of them find a babysitter for Maria.

Like most times when Tony wanted a little time to himself he silently changed all the clocks in the house an hour before Maria's bed time. Maria being a cleaver child had figured out that 8:00 was her bed time, and that she could recognize the time on the clock. So tricking her into going to bed at 7:00 was impossible.

Tony could barely contain his excitement as he tucked Maria into her bed, she complained about not being tied as he pulled the covers around her and tucked her into the bed. He only smiled at her before crawling into the bed snuggling up to her.

She instantly yawned at the contact of his skin, Tony had made sure that she would be tired when it was time to go to bed. He had taken her to the beach for a few hours knowing as soon as they curled up in the bed she would quickly fall asleep.

"Do you want me to read a book?" Tony asked, burying his face into his daughter's hair. Her raven locks now hung between her shoulder blades. Like most little girls Maria enjoyed doing crazy things to her hair, often asking Tony to help her.

"I want a story." She said shifting her body so she could tuck her head under his chin; he chuckled watching her trying to get comfy.

"Well if you want me to tell you a story, you have to show me how much you love me." He chuckled, a yawn passed Maria's lips and she shook her head yes before tiredly sitting up to show Tony with her arms how much she loved him.

"Only that much?" He chuckled, watching her shake her head no and attempting to show him again, stretching her arms out more. He chuckled pulling her back into his arms, satisfied with her answer. "How much do you love me Daddy?" She tiredly asked, Tony chuckled showing her with his thumb and index finger about an inch of space. Maria scoffed.

"That's not funny Daddy!" She cried tiredly. Tony laughed kissing the small exposed flesh on her forehead. "I love you more than anything." He said, Maria seemed satisfied with this answer and nodded her head. Gently Tony brushed locks of Maria's hair out of her face, and then started to whisper a story to her. He didn't get the chance to finish his story because Maria fell asleep; gently he slid himself out of the bed, and tucked her rabbit beside her.

Quietly he tip-toed out of the room and closed the door behind him. A sudden wave of tired-ness overcame him, he wanted nothing more than to go to sleep at that moment, but the thought of Pepper having a date with him, made him want to stay awake forever. Tonight was the night he had been wishing for, for years.

Tony quickly shuffled to his room where he got ready, and after a cold shower he felt more awake then before. He quickly ran his fingers through his hair before he made his way down stairs to begin his night with Pepper. Tony was so excited that he almost didn't notice Pepper when he walked down the stairs. She was standing by the water fountain watching as Maria's starfish lazily walked along the bottom of the pool. Pepper was wearing a white dress with sliver beads sewn in around her chest area, and the straps. Her hair was down, but had a single clip of glittering butterflies holding up a small amount of hair.

Tony was stunned looking at Pepper, he knew she was beautiful, but her dressing up for him made her even more beautiful. He stumbled with his words trying to find something to say to her. Immediately a pink blush spread across her cheeks. "You like it? Maria picked it out." Pepper asked nervously she wiped invisible dirt off her hands and onto her dress in nervousness.

"Like it? I love it." He said trying to contain his emotions; his heart was trying to jump from his chest at the sight of Pepper. Emotions that went even wilder at the thought of his daughter picking out what she should wear. He knew at that moment that Pepper had to be the one.

Dinner had gone exactly as planned he couldn't find a single thing wrong with it, and as they waited for their dessert to come the softly chatted about the thing that mattered most in their lives; Maria. They would both gladly admit that their worlds revolved around Maria and if it were possible they would both spend every single moment of the day with her. This plan would never be possible because Maria like most children would get sick of her parents after a long period of time and want to play by herself.

"Maria asked me yesterday what I wanted to be when I grow up." Pepper softly laughed grabbing her wine glass and taking a sip. Tony could feel the soft tug of a smile on his lips.

"I tried to explain to her that I'm already grown up." She said, Tony laughed shaking his head. He could imagine the questions his daughter would ask, question's that he couldn't always answer.

"What did she say?" Tony asked watching as a deep blush spread across her face.

"She asked if she would have boobies too when she was grown up." Pepper's face was completely red with embarrassment. Tony couldn't contain the laugh that spilled from his mouth; Pepper's face was so red that it was starting to spread to her chest.

"I blame you for her obsession with nakedness!" Pepper snapped pointing her finger at Tony. Tony shrugged her shoulders; there wasn't really anything he could do about it. Some children obsessed about going to the bathroom, or toys, and some about their body. Maria was one of the lucky few that liked talking about everyone's body, and asking if she would look like naked when she grew up. At first the conversations were awkward, but they had all came to realize that she didn't necessarily fully understand what she was talking about, she just talked about it.

"Well, she is my daughter!" Tony said simply shrugging his shoulders. Maria was so much like him in little ways; he could truly see how she was his daughter. They even slept in the same position, which scared him a little the first time it had been pointed out to him by Pepper.

"Maria?" Pepper suddenly asked, her face covered with confusion. Tony quickly turned around in his chair to see his daughter standing at the entrance of the room, her bunny in her hand and a tried dopey look on her face.

"Hey baby-girl, what are you doing?" Tony asked Maria's tired eyes tired across the room. She looked confused and rubbed her eyes trying to gather her thoughts together.

"There is a monster in the window." She said simply, Tony gave Pepper a look of confusion. When Tony tuned back around he held his arms out for his daughter, softly encouraging her to come to him.

"It's alright, you can stay down here with us until I'm ready to go to bed." Tony said softly holding his daughter tightly in his arms, and running a hand through her hair.

_Thank you unwantedslag for betaing._


	28. Chapter 28

_Wasn't in the mood to update, so I wrote this. Thank you __UnwantedSlag for betaing._  


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Maria had always been told that the computers were off limits unless an adult were sitting with her. She was also told that the computers in the shop were only for her father because he used them strictly for work. Maria had her own computer that was really just an outdated computer Tony no longer used, but Maria never knew the difference, this is probably why she found all computers extremely interesting.

But like most children the items in the house that were off limits were more interesting than the items they were allowed to have, and Maria always found her father's computers the most interesting things in the house. The Ironman suite even if it was off limits was still too scary for her, and she was allowed to play with pretty much anything else in the house as she pleased.

Everything else was replaceable, Tony's work was not. This never stopped her from obsessively trying to sneak onto his computers and fool around clicking anything and everything she saw.

Now four and half years old Maria knew a few things about computers. Tony couldn't help but be proud at the knowledge she had, because she knew more than the average four year old, even if she still needed to be supervised. Maria was a terrible reader, and because she couldn't hear properly she often clicked on the wrong things. Tony had sighed pushing his chair away from his computer desk as he rubbed the hair on his face. His head was starting to pound a little as he continued to type away on his screen and he could feel the failure pressure in his body telling him he needed to take a bathroom break.

He quickly stood up cracking his back tiredly before making his way towards the small bathroom in the shop. He took a quick glimpse at Maria who was playing in her play area contently. A small smile spread across his face as he walked past her, because Maria was now old enough to sit by herself for a few minutes. This meant he didn't have to tug her around with him when he had to leave the room for a few seconds.

As soon as Tony shut the door behind him, Maria quickly dropped what she was doing and ran over to the computers. She had learned better than to climb into the chair because her father would notice she had moved in. Instead she stood on her toes to catch a glimpse at what he was doing.

Across the screen was a bunch of letters and shapes she didn't understand. Her father had explained to her once that it was computer programming but she wasn't sure what that meant or why he was doing it. Reaching out a tiny hand Maria grabbed the mouse swerving it around the screen. "Maria, you know how your father feels about you playing with his computer!" Jarvis spoke loudly; Maria scrunched her face annoyed with the voice. He always caught her in the middle of her schemes, and he always told her what to do.

"Mute!" Maria said loudly smirking when she knew the voice would listen to her. It had to, it was the rules. She could only imagine what the voice was thinking as it watched her at the computer and because he was muted he couldn't tell on her.

An evil grin passed Maria's face as she clicked her mouse a couple of times. Maria had figured that because she knew how to open and close programs on the computer that she could easily reopen the program if she closed it. Suddenly a loud noise came from the computer and she jerked her hand back knowing something was wrong. A blue screen flashing white letters appeared on the screen.

A sudden feeling of fear crept up on Maria, she had never seen such a screen in her entire life and the sudden fear of breaking her father's computer crossed her mind. Terrified Maria ran to the other side of the room and pretended to be busy.

Seconds later her father stepped out of the bathroom, he took a quick peek to check on her then walked slowly to the project he was working on before nature called. A look a surprise crossed Tony's face as he sat down in the chair. He knew what the blue screen had meant, what he didn't know was what caused it. His computers were all top of the line and though it was common for computers to break or have flaws in their programs his rarely did, because he always tuned and fixed his computers. He himself had never seen the blue error screen since he started doing his own programming.

His eyes suddenly flickered to Maria who was playing with her stuffed rabbit. It didn't take him long to figure out that his daughter was the one who had caused the computer to crash, and he could tell by the way she was playing she knew she was in trouble.

"Maria, did you touch my computer?" He asked softly from across the room. Maria's body stiffened and she stiffly turned to look at her father.

"No." She said swiftly, her cheeks red. Tony frowned knowing she was lying, but sadness churned in his stomach. Maria had never lied to him before; she had always felt comfortable with him to tell the truth. Sure she had refused to do things, and thrown hissy fits, but she had never ever lied. "Are you sure?" he asked trying to hold the emotions back. Maria wide eyed shook her head yes, as she tightened her grip on the rabbit in her hands. Tony's frown deepened, Maria wasn't going to tell him the truth.

It would have been easy for him to give her a time out, but after reading a million parenting magazines he knew he wanted Maria to tell him the truth on her own terms. He didn't want her to ever be afraid to tell him the truth, even if she knew he would be upset with her. "Maria I think you know what happened here, so when you're ready to tell me, I'm here." He said firmly, Maria nodded her head her eyes wide. Tony turned around to turn his attention on something else. Maria watched her father fiddle with something she couldn't see, the words he had exchanged with her a few seconds before scared her. He knew she was lying, and yet he didn't yell at her. She suddenly felt guilty; her eyes flickered to the rabbit she was holding.

She knew what she had to do, because she knew if she didn't tell her father what she had done she would be in more trouble in the long run. Pulling her rabbit closer to her chest she slowly made her way over to her father her head hanging down. "Daddy." Maria said softly, her head still hanging low. Tony turned his attention to his daughter watching her slowly kick at invisible dirt on the ground. Tony patiently waited for his daughter to continue.

"I played with your computer. I'm sorry." She said softly, Tony held back the smile on his face. He was happy that his daughter had confessed, he felt less of a bad parent knowing that Maria would admit to doing something wrong. "Thank you for telling the truth Maria, but you know you're not allowed my on computer so you still have to have a time out." Tony said softly, Maria nodded her head not in agreement but in understanding. She then walked over to her time out chair where she sat silently for a few minutes, when her time out was over Tony pulled his daughter into his arms kissed her and told her how proud he was of her.

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**Crappy update I know.**

**Please Review?**


	29. Chapter 29

**Just a quick update because I feel bad for not updating often. School sucks, needs to be beated. **

**Thank you, nefethelunarwolf , Miss Luny , Magooke, LittleMissMia123 , xSerenityIsn'tAlwaystheAnswerx , Space Mouse , CL 9 3 11 0 9 5 , StraightLife116, and XxThe Penny TreasurexX for the reviews.  
**

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Sometimes Maria acted like a child Tony had never seen before; he knew this creature wasn't his daughter, because his daughter was sweet, caring, and almost an exact copy of him. He would never figure out where Maria had learned this behavior but he assumed it was something she had seen when she was living with her biological Mother, and she just didn't remember.

He would always hope that she would never remember anything about her former living arrangements, and if he could convince her that she never met her biological mother he would. No child, he had told himself, should have to live through what his daughter experienced. Tony watched his monster of a daughter scream and throw things from a distance. He and Pepper both sat in silence with their lips tightly pressed together, they had no idea what had happened that had made Maria so angry, and they couldn't get her to calm down long enough to talk out her emotions.

"The doctor said we should wait until she calms down before stepping in." Pepper reassured Tony, who was extremely upset that he couldn't help his daughter. If he had complete control over the situation he would have made his daughter feel safe, and happy. But as a parent, he had learned that you couldn't always make your child happy with the flick of a switch, sometimes you had to wait for them to figure it out themselves.

"I know, but I'm scared she will hurt herself." Tony said chewing on the corner of his lip. He was fighting the urge to run over and grab his daughter, which would probably end up in someone getting hurt.

There was a sudden final screech that came from Maria before she collapsed on the ground unmoving. The sound was such a shock to Pepper and Tony that they both ran over to Maria who was panting in frustration. Her face was red, and a collection of tears stained her cheeks. A tired look passed Maria's face as she looked up at her parent's concerned faces. She still looked very unhappy, but the anger had left her system. Tony's hands shook as he slid his hands under her armpits and lifted her off the ground. She was unresponsive with his actions, and simply allowed him to pull her close to his chest.

Pepper absentmindedly chewed on her finger nails as she watched Tony try to speak with Maria. Maria angrily huffed at her father and turned her face away from him as she tried to ignore him. If he wasn't worried about his daughter, he would have been frustrated with her actions. "Maybe she needs a nap?" Pepper asked shrugging her shoulders. As soon as the words left Pepper's lips Maria started to struggle in Tony's arms. A panicked look crossed Tony's face as he crouched down to let go of her, out of fear of dropping her.

"NO!" Maria started screaming as she tried to push her father away from her. He didn't expect her reaction to be instant, normally Maria didn't complain about naps until he had her tucked in. Usually she convinced him; he had to stay with her in order for her to fall asleep. Maria didn't have yet to understand that Tony would curl up with her if she asked; she didn't have to convince him.

"I think you're right." He murmured grabbing Maria and securing her to his side. Pepper quickly plugged her ears at the scream that that passed Maria's lips. Tony on the other hand couldn't block Maria's banshee shriek from his ears so he simply cringed. When he finally got Maria in her room, he didn't bother changing her clothes; he knew it would be an unnecessary struggle. He put her on her bed, but when she jolted for the door he had to quickly grab her and pull her back. He fought with her for a few minutes, and she finally realized she wasn't going to win she pouted and allowed him tuck her in. A small yawn escaped her lips; he couldn't help but run his fingers along her forehead.

"Do you want me to stay with you?" He asked, Maria sharply nodded her head no. He tried to hide the surprised look on his face. "How come?" He asked, watching her eyes start to flutter shut; it wouldn't have mattered if he stayed with her or not because she was falling asleep at such a quick rate she would be out before he reached the door. "I_hate_ you." She murmured falling asleep; Tony frowned when he heard her say she hated him. She had never said hated anything before, she 'didn't like things' but she never hated something.

Tony brushed a few strands of hair out of her eyes, reminding himself that he had to get her bangs cut. She liked going to the hairdressers, so maybe if he sent her out with Pepper later in the afternoon it would cheer her up.

Tony tucked the thick blankets under her chin, kissing her forehead before he left. Quietly he shut the door behind him, knowing it wouldn't matter how loud he was because Maria was out like a light, and would be for a few more hours. Pepper was sitting in the living room; she was on her laptop happily typing away. "How did it go?" Pepper asked, she didn't look up from her screen completely involved with what ever it was she was doing.

Tony sighed lying on the opposite end of the couch covering his eyes with his arm. "She fought me, but she seemed to fall asleep fine after she told me she hated me." Pepper stopped typing and looked at Tony, "What?" she said shocked not believing what Tony had said. Tony grunted in response to Pepper's question, he was too tired to respond properly.

"Don't worry about it Pep, I told my mom I hated my dad all the time." He yawned; Tony was in fact worried about what she had said. Tony hated his father, and he didn't want Maria to hate him. Tony hadn't realized he had fallen asleep until something heavy climbed on top of him. He jumped pulling his arm off his face to see what had curled up beside him. When he saw Maria trying to pull the blankets around her, as well as himself his heart melted.

She was talking to herself, and hadn't noticed yet that he was awake. Tried, he gently moved to help her, he was surprised he hadn't scared her when she turned around and smiled at him. It only took him a few seconds to wrap the blanket around himself, and Maria. When he was finished he pulled her into his arms holding onto her softly as she settled down beside him.

"I love you Daddy." Maria yawned tightly holding onto his shirt, her other hand by her mouth. Tony nodded his head in agreement, kissing her temple. "Love you too." He murmured to her, falling back into his slumber with his daughter at his side.

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**Thank you _for Betaing, UnwantedSlag _**

**Review? **


	30. Chapter 30

_I feel bad for not updating this story, but I simply haven't because this is the story I was working on when my old roommate kicked me out of our apartment and tried to assault me. As a result I haven't really spent a lot of time any where near this story. Hopefully by struggling to finish this very lame chapter I will get on the ball again._

_Thank you TheCresantMoonWolf , SilentShadow of Mountain Clan, Rachael Hyuuga, and Nikel's lover for the reviews as well as the people who messaged me._

_**Beta-ed by: xBlackStars** _

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Tony without a doubt in his mind knew Maria was an intelligent little girl. There was some things that she picked up on so quickly that he knew that she didn't have the average intelligence of a normal little girl. Maria excelled with maths which didn't surprise him, and in kindergarten she grew bored in lessons of counting simply to ten. Maria while the other students were counting spent time with a teacher's aide and worked on the basics of maths for students in grade one.

But after she understood these basics she slowly climbed up the ladder and at a young age was working on her multiplication tables. So far she had made it up to her six multiplications and they were trying to get her to learn her sevens. Maria on the other hand quickly became bored would easily distract herself from learning them.

So for the time being the only thing stopping her from becoming a mastermind at maths was Maria herself, because unlike her father in school, she would rather be playing then showing off her intelligence. Maria would often get in trouble at school simply because she never really wanted to learn. They had figured it might be because she was more far advanced then the other students and was bored. They never got to test the theory because Maria either caught on that they were going to ship her ahead a few grades, or she simply wasn't as smart as they thought.

Personally Tony thought she knew if they shipped her ahead a few grades that she would never be with Warren so he planned around her intelligent scheme and during classes that mattered like Maths. He had her pulled out of the class for a short period of time, and returned with her own maths. That she would eventually work on in class by herself quietly. They had yet to get to that point, but Tony knew in time they would.

Currently Maria had taken an intelligent turn and started to hide her homework. No home work meant that Maria could play, and do whatever she wanted for a longer period of time. At first Tony didn't realize what was occurring until Maria got a note in her daily planner asking if her homework would ever be returned. Tony could have yelled and screamed, but he figured that he could take a much better approach. He himself hated his father for many reasons, one of them being the way his father treated him when he was angry. He didn't want that for his daughter, so he decided to do something different.

He waited until he was calm enough to talk to his daughter. Maria since coming home had planted herself in front of the television and was watching something about animals on the animal planet. Massive animals crossed the screen and she seemed almost bored. "Maria, I_ need_ to talk to you!" He said sitting on the couch. She scrunched her face up in confusion when he waited silently for her to come over to the couch and talk to him. It was almost as if she skipped over to him and then slowly crawled up on the couch looking at him with wide eyes. He knew at that moment there was no way he could be mad at her.

When she had finished settling down Tony laced his fingers together and Maria tilted her head in interest.

"I got a note from your teacher saying you haven't been doing your homework." A frown suddenly appeared on Maria's face and being her father he knew at that moment Maria was trying to think of something cleaver to say. There was a sudden sigh from Maria's lips as she climbed down from the couch and disappeared. Tony was utterly confused, and almost pinched the bridge of his nose when he saw her turn the corner with a stack of papers.

Her little hands could barely hold the stack she was holding so a few pieces fell behind her. The sight of his daughter carrying the small stack of paper in her hands almost sent a flare of anger through his chest. Maria put the papers on the table in front of him before sighing and turning around again. At that moment Tony wasn't sure what he should do because again she returned with more paper.

Tony hadn't had that much homework in high-school, and yet Maria seemed to accumulate it like crazy. In total there must have been 40 pages of paper. Tony could feel the frustration build in his chest. "Maria, why do you have so much homework?" He asked rubbing the bridge of his nose. Maria suddenly started to play innocent, she placed her hands behind her back and muttered something along the lines of I don't know.

"The truth please, Maria!" Tony snapped watching her eyes divert to the ground in shame. He watched as his daughter struggled with what she was going to tell him.

"If you don't do your work during class you have to take it home." She said in a whisper, Tony now understood what was going on. His daughter had decided play was more important than class, and chosen not to do her work. She had then decided she didn't want to do the work for homework either and tried to pretend that she didn't have any. If anything the idea wasn't that cleaver for a small child, and he was sure that there was many children who had done the same thing.

"Maria is the work too hard?" He asked, she shook her head no.

"Then is it too easy?" He asked, she did a weird motion with her head that was a mixture between yes and no. She did it often and it was a habit they were trying to break. "Show me which ones you find too easy." He said pointing to the pile of paper, Maria nodded her head in agreement. She then went through the procedure of picking out the papers that were too easy.

They mainly consisted of coloring, matching, and a series of other things. The only thing that didn't end up in her pile of easy was spelling, which he figured that would.

Maria was lucky they found her when they did, and the failure to be introduced to any language was reversible. If she were any older, she would have had a permanent language barrier, but because of her latency in English she had difficulty spelling and reading. "Done Daddy!" Maria chimed watching her pile of homework proudly. Tony at that moment had realized that Maria didn't understand why she was in trouble at all. It was almost as if she had completely forgotten why he was upset.

"Okay, now you're going to do the easy pile until bed time." Tony knew what was going to happen when he gave her instructions. Maria was an extraordinary child, but at the same time a normal child. "No." Maria said firmly as she stomped her foot on the ground. "Yes, and you will continue to do your home work until bed. If you don't finish then tomorrow you don't get to play until it's done." Tony watched as his daughter's face burned red, he knew what was coming and he was prepared. He was after all the one who spent many days with her while she screamed to no end.

"No!" Maria all but shout as she insisted, her face getting redder and redder.

"When you get to the hard ones, I'll help you." It was at that moment Maria lost it. She screamed and without warning pulled her hearing aids out of her ears and threw them at Tony. Tony was in such a state of shock over the matter that he didn't even clue into the shrieking that was coming from Maria's mouth. He had never seen Maria throw her hearing aids. They did have issues with keeping them in her ears when she was smaller but that's because they bothered her.

"If I can't hear you, you can't tell me what to do!" She screamed, Tony was flat out baffled. The was right in the department that he couldn't tell her, because they both knew very well that she couldn't hear him. In his anger Tony tried to sign her, and she responded by closing her eyes. If it were any moment but this he would be impressed by his daughters intelligence, but he was also thankful that during moments like this that he was a lot smarter than her.

With one swift movement he picked her up and carried her to her room under his arms. With that same swift movement he stood her on the ground and before she could start something else signed her that she was only allowed to leave her room to do homework. In the end Tony knew he would win, Maria's toys had been removed from her room months ago when they had discovered she liked to stay up late and play with her toys.

Shutting the door behind him he made his way down stairs. He wouldn't go to his garage because he was sure Maria would try to pull something else. So Tony decided his best bet was to sit on the couch while working on his laptop. The experience was pain full but until her bedtime this is where he had to sit. Twenty minutes later JARVIS suddenly interrupted him.

"Sir, I do believe we have a problem." He said as Tony rubbed the bridge of his nose, something was telling him this had something to do with Maria.

"Yes Jarvis?" Tony asked waiting to hear his daughter's next stunt. "Maria has urinated in the vents." If JARVIS wasn't a computer Tony would have expected this to be a Joke.

"Why the hell would she pee in the vents?" He hollered, he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Sir I do believe you told her she wasn't allowed to leave her room under any circumstances but to do homework." Tony sat on the couch completely baffled, he did say that. With a deep sigh Tony muttered his daughters name under his breath before making his way upstairs to clean up his daughters mess before it started stinking up his house.


	31. Chapter 31

**Well, my computer is completely destroyed. I can't type so I've been using my iPad and they kind of suck for writing. But regardless of that here is a new update. **

**Thank you GeishaXnoXHimitsu, An Assassin's Angel, Beloved Daughter, Anon, Ali, TheCresantMoonWolf, Stark Fan, CL 9 3 11 0 9 5, SilentShadow of Mountain Clan, HarryPotter7881, XxThe Penny TreasurexX for the reviews.  
**

**Thank you Stark Fan for editing.**

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There seemed to be a bored expression on Maria's face as Tony carefully watched her. He after all expected the look to cross her face after sitting at the table for over an hour doing her homework. He had been working at her punishment for hiding her homework, but he felt it was unfair to force a child to sit until it was completely done considering she was only in kindergarten.

They had decided that her punishment would be to do 5 pages a night plus the homework she got from school until it was done. The first couple nights it was hard to get her to sit down and it took her longer than it should have to finish.

But on this particular night she struggled with her remaining pages. She only had one left and she sat looking at the page for well over an hour. The frustration was evident on her face and even when Tony offered to help her she refused.

Slowly she went from sitting on a hard chair to kicking at the bottom of the table a frown deeply embroiled on her face. His daughter looked unhappy, which he figured she would be, but he felt as if there was something else going on. Something was bothering her, and it bothered him.  
In her unhappy frustration she pulled her hearing aids out of her ears and placed them over the paper. He was unsure of what this would accomplish, but he was sure it was her way of trying to get back on track.

He had learned that children sometimes did things that wouldn't make sense to an adult, and Maria seemed to do strange things more than the average child. For example she once made her father cut holes in all of his work shirts so the reactor could peek out. She had explained to him that it was to keep not only the monsters away but allow the reactor to breathe. He had asked her why it needed to breathe and she insisted he didn't smell the best in the garage.

He knew Maria couldn't hear him so he rapped his knuckles on the table hoping he would catch her eye. There was no way he could force the hearing aids back in her ears, and Tony was simply not the kind of person to force a hearing aid into his daughter. If anything forcing her to do something would discourage her from doing it. He would know, he after all didn't do things people forced him to do. It was just the way he was, and it was something he passed down to his daughter.

Much like everything Tony did, learning sign language had only taken him a few days. The hard part was forming his hands into the right positions, everything else was just memorizing what each signal meant. Maria seemed to catch onto the sign language quicker, even though it wasn't their preferred method of communication.  
"Maria, what is wrong?" He asked forming the words carefully with his hands. She watched him with interest and when he was finished she verbally responded "Nothing." Then turned her attention back to her paper and hearing aids the frown even deeper on her face then before. Rapping his knuckles on the table again he captured her attention.

"You can tell me anything." he continued, she shook her head no. Not agreeing with what he was saying, a deep sigh fell from his lips and he did the only thing he could do. He kissed the top of her head before leaving the room, so she could gather her thoughts.

He wasn't going to force her to tell him what was wrong; he wanted their relationship to be built on trust. Not obligation to tell him what was wrong; he wanted her to feel safe and comfortable to come to him to tell him anything.

His father after all never cared about his own feelings, or at least Tony felt that way growing up. His mother on the other had would often pretend that everything was okay, but there was a few memories where she did ask Tony what was wrong.

He remembered that he felt safe telling her what was on his mind. Sadly the older he got the more he pulled away from his parents, and losing them was devastating. He regretted so much, and he wanted Maria to have everything he didn't.

Maria muttered to herself for a few moments. Tony knew exactly how long it would take her to follow him, so he pretended to fold a few blankets at the opposite end of the couch from the kitchen.  
The soft glow from her ears was still not present so he knew the conversation would be carried out in sight language. In her hand she held the paper she was working on and with a stern face handed her father the paper.

He cringed and grabbed the paper firmly, flipping the piece so he could read what was on it. It was blank. Curious he looked at his daughter.

"I'm not doing it." she said firmly, her words fumbling a little. She couldn't hear herself speak so her words weren't as clear as they should have been. He was prepared to fight with her on the matter. She was going to do her homework weather she liked it or not.

"You have to do your home work." he signed back, she shook her head firmly. A frustrated sigh left his lips, she had her eyes firmly shut so she couldn't see what he had to say.  
Tony turned his attention to the paper in his hand and he slowly read the assignment. It was an easy enough assignment, written in bold letters was "Draw your first memory" and underneath it were a few lines for her to write what it was.

Gently grabbing her chin she stirred her eyes open to look at him. The back of his heels burned as he tried to balance himself as he crouched over.

"Why don't you want to do this assignment?" he signed, she diverted her eyes away from him and his heart sunk, he quickly figured out what Maria had a problem with. Maria's first memory was not a good one.

"Sweet heart, what do you remember?" his heart was beating harshly in his chest, he wasn't sure he wanted to know. Maria's small hand grabbed his and she gently tugged on it, unsure of what she should say.

"Pins." she said softly looking down ashamed. Tony could have sworn at that moment his heart stopped, out of all things she could remember he prayed it wouldn't be that.  
The idea of someone putting pins into a toddler's skin was horrible enough, but the child remembering it was even more horrible. Maria released his hand and used both heals of her palms to rub the tears from her face.

"I'm sorry Daddy." she muttered.

Gently grabbing her hands away from her face he made sure she was looking at him.  
"Don't you ever say sorry for that, do you understand?" Maria nodded her head in confusion, she seemed confused about what he meant for a moment but she quickly understood when he pressed his lips together firmly.

He never wanted her to apologize for the way she felt, and defiantly not for what she remembered. Even though she didn't fully understand the memory.

Pulling his daughter into his chest he wrapped his strong arms around her and held her tightly. He at that moment quickly decided that she wasn't going to do this assignment and that somehow they would get through this mess. It would never be something he would enjoy, but in order for Maria to grow as a person she needed to understand what happened to her and under no circumstances was it her fault. People did horrible things to other people, and sometimes these things happened to children. She unluckily was one of these children and she would have to deal with this fact for the rest of her life.


	32. Chapter 32

**I've been through a lot these past few months, school being a major component. Nursing really takes a lot out of you. But quite honestly I've been avoiding this story because the relationship between Tony and Maria reminded me of a relationship I never had with my own father. I could never imagine that in the middle of my first year of nursing that I would tragically lose my own father. It's been very hard for me, and my sister. It's been even harder to realize how much my father loved me and how proud he was of me because I honestly was under the impression he just didn't. I've been getting a lot of messages asking me when I'm going to finish this, and I think it's about time that I get around too it. This chapter is pretty important. I know before now the story hasn't really had any purpose, but the chapter sets it up so I can actually end this thing, so don't be surprised when I do a huge age jump for Maria in the next chapter(s).**

**Thank you to, turtlegreen16, CupKatyCakes, Leaf Of Ebony, Viviannafox, harrypotterlover2398, thehuntress00, Kendall, ZabuzasGirl, Pyro Loves Ice, Missy Skywalker, Antigona, hidansgirl1234, BeautifulMisery7, Insert Witty Username, xSerenityIsn'tAlwaystheAnswerx, Hope's Survival, nciscsinyluver, Rogue1221, Ali, TheCresantMoonWolf, XxThe Penny TreasurexX, and Party-Like-A-Hawkstar for the reviews.  
**

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Maria had an ear piercing scream and just about everyone who knew her was familiar with it. Tony hated her scream, and silently cursed himself for having such high ceilings. It only amplified her screaming making it much worse than it needed to be. The only way she could make her screams worse was if she took out her hearing aids, but this was starting to become a rarity.

So during one morning when Maria let out a shriek of despair everyone in the house held their hands over their ears. Tony had only been a few feet away from her at the time, and terrified something had happened to her quickly turned to see what his daughter was screaming about.

His heart was pounding harshly when he looked at her, and for a moment could see that nothing was wrong. He was sadly mistaken when his brain finally registered the very flat starfish that was laying on the floor. The accursed creature that had liked to crawl out of the fountain had finally committed fish suicide.

"MY FISH! MY FISH!" she screamed, pointing to the flattened creature on the ground. As much as Tony hated to admit it, he was happy that the stupid thing was dead, but he was going to have to deal with Maria for the rest of the day. Maria wasn't a child who forgot easily.

It was almost impossible to peel her away from the starfish and by midafternoon Tony's head was pounding madly. Pepper had attempted to settle the girl, but failed.

Rubbing his temples Tony snuck a glimpse at his daughter, who was sitting at the table tears dried on her face. She had been like this for about twenty minutes between tears. She held a purple crayon firmly in her hand, and was carefully drawing something.

He had wondered what she was drawing, but his pounding head had hardly given him the bravery to go over and look. She was starting to slowly unwind, and he wasn't going to do anything that could trigger her fit again.

It was during this moment of thought that Maria looked up and caught her father's curious eyes. Her eyes were red and puffy, no different than any other time she cried. Tony held his breath waiting for what she would do next, and was oddly surprised that she silently sat down the crayon. With her little hands she picked up the paper she was holding and walked over to him.

With no exchange of words she handed him the paper, and walked out of the room. Tony was confused as he watched his daughter, and turned his attention to the paper he had been handed.

A loud choking of air was heard from him as he studied the paper. Tony could hardly believe what he was looking at, and at the same time somewhere deep inside he wasn't surprised. Maria was his daughter after all.

Maria had drawn a sloppy sketch of a starfish. Four starfish to be exact, but the amazing part of this entire situation was they were all mechanical starfish. She was of course missing huge parts to ensure her invention could actually be a reality, but she had her father for that.

Along with the starfish were four samples of jewelry, each of which belonged to a different family member. The purpose behind this was each family member got a piece of jewelry, and a starfish. The jewelry would allow the starfish to know when the family member was home, or hurt.

It took Tony a lot longer then it should have to build Maria's fish only because Maria wanted to take part in the entire process. Tony had never worked well with others, but with his daughter there was something that took over him. He had never ending amounts of patience when it came to his daughter and a softness that only a few people had seen.

He also couldn't help the smile of excitement when Maria would point across the table, and name things. Even the minimal understanding of what he was doing. A normal child would have been lost, but Maria for the most part knew what was going on.

When it came down to stretching a waterproof skin like substance over the creatures Maria started to bounce on the heels of her feet. Her excitement made the completion of the project even more exciting than usual.

"NOO! Daddy, that one's for Odie!" She said reaching up to stop his hand. A look of confusion crossed Tony's face. The creatures were almost identical, except for their color. Maria rolled her eyes, grabbing at his hands again.

"Odie is purple, Mama is red, you are blue and I'm yellow!" Maria informed him.

"Shouldn't I be red? I am Ironman after all." Tony asked, Maria scrunched up her nose and brushed her dark hair out of her face.

"No." she said simply, a smile started to spread on Tony's face. This is where he could see the brat in her, and of course himself. He could admit that his daughter was a bit spoiled, but it was hard not to spoil a child when you had more money then you could count.

Their psychologist had been very strict about telling Maria no a lot more, or else Tony would have a very spoiled, and very self-centered child on his hands. Pepper had also been really concerned about this, and often would make Maria choose organizations to donate too.

The most painful one had been taking Maria to the store to pick out presents she would want, and then giving them to a needy child. Maria was of course upset at first when she realized the toys wouldn't be coming home with her, but then became very serious and informed her father that the child needed candy too. As a family they all went to a candy store and picked out all of Maria's favorites.

"No?" Tony asked his smirk getting wider. Tony loved teasing Maria, and it was only a matter of moments before she would say something that would have him in a fit of laughter.

"You're not Ironman." She said very seriously, a silence hung over the two. Tony had been through this with her many times, because she often referred to the Marks as the monsters. She normally would avoid them, and only would touch them if she had to.

"It's going to kill you one day." Maria said, a chill ran up Tony's spine. Sure Pepper and Rhodes had both said this to him before, but it was different coming from his daughter's mouth. He was stunned.

He had to give Pepper credit, she had definitely given his daughter a better sense of reality then he had.

"Now, Odies…" Maria whispered cutting the tension between the two. Maria didn't want to talk about what had just occurred. But it didn't take a genius to figure out that the reason she called the suites monsters was because she believed they would take her father away.

"Is purple." He said.

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	33. Chapter 33

**I think this chapter was a little harder to write, because I was trying to describe Tony`s parenting. I envision him as someone who would completely trust his children, and only get involved with their personal life if he had to. Unless it was a situation where someone hurt his family. Then he would be the type of person to take action. Hopefully I got that across.  
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**Also this story now takes place after the avengers movie. I`m not going to include Ironman 3, in fact ill completely ignore it because I don't want to ruin it for anyone. I also didn`t plan to end my story, like Ironman 3. **

**Thank you michelle1203, Destiny Xavier16, xxLiveLoveReadxx, 666AnimeFan666, XxThe Penny TreasurexX, xBlackStars, WriterMonkey0626, dammitjoanne, SonAletaDee, and AppealingToHeaven0202 for the reviews.**

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Pepper never thought it was possible to see grey hair on her head, but between Maria and Tony they seemed to accumulate quickly. The two of them were a tag team of destruction and usually chaos always followed them. She was lucky if it was Tony, or just Maria causing mischief. But it seemed the older Maria got, the more she seemed to venture out of the house and at the age of sixteen it didn't seem like they saw her at all. Her seventeenth year wasn't much better.

On her seventeenth birthday Maria disappeared for three days. Tony and Pepper panicked, it was assumed the Maria had been kidnapped. It turned out that Maria had been bar hopping with her friends and a fake I.D she made herself. Her friends brought her home after she passed out in the middle of the club. But all of them too scared to deal with the wrath of her father left her half naked on the door step.

Then just like his mother had done to him, Tony woke his daughter up the next morning by blaring music. She was grounded for two months, which would have been one month if Maria hadn't been a smart ass about it. When asked if she had anything to say about her grounding, she simply said it was 'totally worth it.'

Before having a teen, Tony never understood what it was like to deal with himself. He now completely understood how Pepper sometimes felt, because the stunts Maria pulled where often identical to ones he had pulled. Then there was times where she would pull a stunt that would leave him completely stunned. This is what he figured was how Pepper felt.

But unlike him, Maria had a lot of friends and always seemed to be laughing. Maria had a kindness to her that he could never achieve. Tony wasn't good with people; he was good with inventing things. Maria was good with people.

There was a soft giggling coming from the kitchen when Tony made his way upstairs. He had pulled three days without sleep, and had almost forgotten how important it was. Peering around the wall to see what the sound was about, he observed Maria leaning over a bunch of papers on the island in the kitchen.

Her long black hair was pulled back in a messy bun, and her pajamas hung loosely off her body. He sometimes wondered how she even managed to keep them on, and figured it was some inhuman teen girl trick he didn't want to know about.

"What are you giggling about?" Tony was oddly curious about what his daughter could find so funny. Maria's blue eyes flickered over to her father, and crooked smile appeared on her face.

"Apparently I've gained 30 pounds in the past two months." She said holding up a very unflattering picture of herself. The picture had obviously been photoshopped to make her look a little chunkier, not that Maria was chunky. Tony watched her in a tired silence not sure why Maria found this funny at all.

Most girls her age would have been devastated to see such a thing in the papers, but then again he usually dealt with them. It was rare for a paper to be brave enough to print anything about his daughter; most of them were terrified of what her father would do.

Maria rolled her eyes then pulled up her shirt to expose her stomach. Tony watched her with intrest as she took her hands and made her bellybutton start talking, "Food is too tasty, I can't stop eating."

Tony knew he was tired because he found this very funny. A sudden flair of laughter radiated in his chest, and he almost couldn't get himself to stop. When he was finished he reminded himself he really needed to sleep more.

Maria pulled her shirt back down and closed the magazine in front of her. Giving Tony the opportunity to sneak up on her and wrap his arms around her. He then began to plant kisses on his daughter's cheeks, "My beautiful little girl!"

Maria squealed and tried to wiggle out of her father's grasp, but Tony showed no signs of weakening his hold on her. "EWWW! DAD THAT'S GROSS! STOP IT!"

Tony lived for moments like this, moments that he shared with his daughter. His father hardly looked his way, and it wasn't until many years after his death that he discovered that his father actually cared about him.

But that didn't hide the many memories he had of his father, who in all wasn't a very good one. It was his mother that he was close with, and his mother that he had all the good memories of. He promised himself that Maria was going to have so many happy memories of him, that it would make his fans sick when they found out.

But Maria would always remember her father coming home bloody, and her father coming home with broken bones. That was one of the many images that would always be imprinted in her mind, and although her father didn't know it was there.

That image was always of her father sitting in a chair the suit still on him; he was of course bloody and nursed many broken bones. Her mother was scolding him, and her father was not listening. The strong smell of what she would later discover was scotch hovered in the air, and her father would be on some unknown number of drinks.

"So… School today?" Tony asked pulling away from Maria. Her face was flushed red, and her hair was a little messy. A look of irritation passed Maria's face and she shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

"You still going to school right?" He asked again, for a moment he was unsure what day of the week it was. He was positive it was a Tuesday, and he was positive children still went to school on Tuesdays.

"University doesn't have an attendance, there for it's not a requirement to go_._" It was almost easy to forget that his seventeen year old daughter was in university, and that she had been for almost two years. Maria had a hard time in high school and couldn't quite fit in so she got out as quickly as possible.

Maria had thought that if she was in an institution with more clever minds, then maybe she would fit in. The reality of it was she didn't even really fit in university either. She had somehow accumulated a few friends, but they were a lot older then her. Maria was often frustrated by this and rarely went to school. She was always top of her class, and this made her an even bigger target.

Tony could remember going through the same thing, but unlike his daughter he didn't care what some know it all thought of him. Maria did, because Maria wanted to fit in and the reality was not everyone would like Maria. People would hate her simply because of what she was, and not who.

"So what are your plans today then? Going to see Warren?" There was a sudden flash of anger that rippled across Maria's face, and Tony's heart started to beat quicker. He knew he had said something to upset her and he was only moments away from a teenage rage.

"NO!" then without another word Maria marched out of the room leaving her father in her dust. This is why he left these kinds of things for Pepper to deal with. Pepper was better at remembering what was going on in Maria's life then he was. Not because Tony didn't care, but because sometimes he thought his brain was going to explode. It always changed so fast, and he couldn't even remember names from the day before. There was no way he could keep track of her drama. But Pepper always knew what was going on in Maria's life, and as long as one of them knew he was happy.

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"What's going on with Maria and Warren?" Tony slept about 6 hours his mind riddled with questions. It took him longer than expected to fall asleep, but he wasn't at all surprised that he had trouble. Pepper looked up from the paper she was reading her face scrunched in confusion.

It wasn't normal for Tony to inquire about Maria's friends, and it wasn't normal for Tony to even know the drama in Maria's life existed. Placing her pen down on the table Pepper was completely distracted.

Maria and Warren had been friends for many years. It was often joked about that they were twins because the two were inseparable. It was hard to find children around Maria's age, whose fathers had lots of money. Tony believed that one day the two would be married, and if he were to be honest Warren was the only boy allowed to marry his daughter.

"Maria didn't tell you?" Pepper asked, she clenched her teeth tightly because she simply didn't want to be the one to tell Tony. She knew what he was like, and Tony would be crazy enough to do something…insane. He always was insane when it came to his daughter.

Tony shook his head no, and locked his eyes onto his wife. Tony usually stayed out of Maria's life unless he thought there was something serious happening, it was only then he tried to know every little detail.

Pepper had remembered the first time Maria got her period. Maria was so embarrassed about the situation that she made her swear not to tell her father, and the two snuck out of the house to buy her first products. Tony was convinced that his daughter was dying and had called in a doctor to do an investigation. When Maria came home from the store, everyone almost died in embarrassment. From that moment on, Tony made sure that all information he gathered came from Pepper or his daughter.

"She wouldn't really tell me much about it except that Warren stopped wanting to hang out, and when she asked why he told her they couldn't be friends anymore. They haven't talked in two months. She still gets upset about it." Pepper watched as Tony's face flared red, and the very same temper she was worried about rose in his chest.

"Stay out of it!" Pepper demanded, Tony pretended he didn't hear her and stood up from his chair. She couldn't imagine what was going through his mind but it couldn't have been good.

"That little-"

"Stay out of it because if you do get involved Maria would never forgive you. She didn't even want to tell me about it, how do you think she would feel if her father got involved? Besides, they should work it out. Maria is old enough now that she doesn't need her father intervening!" Pepper knew she could go on about the situation between the two children. She herself, wanted to get involved but her understanding was the relationship between the two had started to become rocky once Warren hit puberty (which he hit late) and slowly went downhill. Maybe it was for the better.

The red flush on Tony's face had almost completely disappeared, and he slowly sat himself back down on the chair across from Pepper. He was still in deep thought about what he had been told. Pepper knew Tony well enough by now that he wouldn't be able to get the boy out of his mind. The last boy who made Maria cry ended up with no eyebrows.

"Besides," she cringed knowing what she was about to do next would get Tony off the war path of Warren and onto a new one. "Maria is dating a secret boy, and won't tell me who." Pepper hated herself for telling Tony, but she herself was dying to know, and now seemed better than ever to tell him. Pepper had tried to figure out whom, but Maria hid it well. If anyone could figure it out it would be Tony.

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	34. Chapter 34

**Thank you, ZabuzasGirl, hidansgirl1234, Aqua, SonAletaDee, xxLiveLoveReadxx, GeishaXnoXHimitsu, XxThe Penny TreasurexX, michelle1203, and Destiny Xavier16 for the reviews! **

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"Did you say something to my dad?" Maria asked, her arms were crossed and her eyes were watching her feet as they walked. Her face was scrunched in confusion and a hint of irritation was heard in her voice. Maria loved her father, and her father was many things but sneaky was not one of them. He had come right out and asked who Maria was seeing.

Maria almost choked on her food and gave him a threatening look. At first she thought that her father had been snooping, but quickly remembered he wasn't smart enough to look for something he didn't know about and she was sure her father didn't know about her boyfriend. Someone had snitched and there could only be two people in existence who could have said something, her mother and her boyfriend.

She hadn't had time yet to ask her mother because Pepper took a quick trip to Paris, so the next best thing was her boyfriend. Nervous that she brought up her father, Steve pulled at the neck of his shirt. Maria watched him curiously, he always pulled at his shirt when she brought up her father and she couldn't blame him. Her father would kill the both of them if he found out his daughter was dating Steve Rogers. Out of all the men she could have picked, she picked Captain America. The two boys seemed to hate each other, and couldn't sit in a room together without bickering, even after New York.

"No, I didn't…but maybe we should tell him about us." Maria suddenly gave Steve the stink eye. She was well aware of how her father got with her boyfriends, he would purposely try to scare them away. Normally he would stalk abound the house, and show up at places in his suit. So boys normally didn't stay around Maria long and Maria wanted this one to stay around for a very long time.

"Why? So he can beat you up?" she asked, she had stopped their walk and moved off to the side of the grass allowing the joggers to walk by. Steve always asked Maria if they could tell her father about them, but she was adamant that they wait a while. But in Maria's opinion Steve worried about it too much.

First it was there age difference, which Maria assured him wasn't a big deal. He was only seven years older than her, and if it made him more comfortable they wouldn't do anything until she turned 18. Then he worried about how to act around her, and what forms of affection were okay. Maria had almost been stunned when he asked her if it was okay to hold her hand. Maria still teased him about it, and often would ask him if he wanted to hold her hand. He always went red.

"Look don't worry about it, I'll tell him about it eventually." This wasn't the answer Steve wanted to hear, and the frustration was evident on his face. He would much rather just get everything over with sooner than later. That way there was a lot less reasons for Tony to kill him. Maria had planned on telling her father days ago, but he suddenly went into this crazy behavior of not sleeping for days.

Maybe she would just tell Mom. Mom always made it better.

"Look, I'll talk to Mom tonight. We will make plans for dinner on Saturday, we can tell him then. He should be done his crazy, manic, whatever by then." She sighed rolling her eyes, and signing something. He had picked up a lot of words from her, but every now and then she would sign something without thinking, and he had no idea what it was.

It was also a surprise to him that Maria didn't really yell. He would much rather her yell, so much emotion was put into signing that it looked a lot scarier.

Steve was distracted by Maria, and not really thinking he ran his hand along her jaw. She didn't seem to mind, and watched him curiously. She would have wanted nothing more than to kiss him, but Steve always panicked over things like that.

"Excuse me, are you Maria Stark?" A woman appeared from nowhere, interrupting the moment. Maria hated having a famous father, because it was moments like this that annoyed her. Steve jerked his hand away from her face and quickly placed it in his pocket.

"Yeah, can I help you?" The woman smiled tilting her head, she was older her skin wrinkled and worn. She looked tired, and her clothing was ruffled. Maria had seen all sorts of people, and a lot of the time they all mashed together. So it was strange to her that she felt like she knew the woman.

"Can I get a picture with you?" She asked, holding up a small camera that looked as if it had been through a lot. Maria suddenly felt uncomfortable, and without thinking she said yes. Within a few seconds a bright flash burned her eyes, and the strange woman thanked her before quickly wandering off.

Maria's brain seemed to wander off with the woman, because when Steve attempted to say something to her she didn't respond. Gently placing his hand on her shoulder he stirred her from her concentration. Maria didn't have anything to say about what had just happened, and nodded her head assuring him that she was okay.

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"Can we talk?" Maria slid into her mother's office, shutting the large doors behind her. Pepper looked up from her desk a surprised look on her face. Maria hardly showed up at her work, she would normally just call her. So Pepper knew it was something very important.

Nodding her head, Pepper placed her pen on the desk and motioned for Maria to sit across from her. Maria quickly walked across her mother's office and sat down on the edge of the chair. Crossing her arms, and tilting her head, Maria thought about what she was going to say. It was a sight that Pepper was use to seeing, she was thinking of the best way to say something. She didn't want to upset her, and this worried Pepper.

"You have to promise you won't freak out, and that you won't let Dad freak out." Maria demanded, the expression changing on her face to one of irritation. If there was anyone she worried about, it was how her father would over react.

"I promise." Pepper smiled, which they both knew was half-truth. Pepper could keep herself from freaking out, but it would be impossible to keep Tony contained.

"The boyfriend wants to come over for Saturday dinner." Maria rolled her eyes, she already knew it was a bad idea but Steve was adamant about it. She kept telling herself that Steve could handle anything her father could throw at her, he was a superhero after all.

"Maria, Sweetie that's great!" Pepper excitedly clapped her hands together, she had been waiting a long time to figure out who this man was, and now she got to know without snooping around. She had started to get worried when Maria wouldn't talk about him, even though it was obvious that Maria was head over heels for someone. Pepper had almost started to go on a rant of excitement when Maria put her hands up to silence her.

"You have to keep Dad under control, he's going to lose his mind when he finds out who it is." This was very alarming to Pepper, sure Tony would never be happy about someone dating his girl, but what would it matter who she was dating. Unless it was someone that wasn't right for Maria, or Maria knew the relationship itself was bad.

Pepper wanted to push Maria for more information, but stopped herself. If she ever wanted Maria to be open with her like this again, she had to pick her battles. She would find out on Saturday who this mysteries man was, and then she was sure they would know everything.

Pepper placed a small smile on her face, nodding her head. She would try her hardest.

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Maria had made sure everything about the dinner was perfect and if you were to ask anyone the dinner was way too much for a dinner date. Pepper actually had to pull Maria aside and assure her that everything would be okay. Maria like her father worked herself into a coma when something was bothering her, and it just so happened that the dinner was her focus.

Tony had been oddly silent about meeting the boy, and everyone in the house hold knew he was slowly calculating all the horrible legal things he could do to the boy, while at the same time trying to keep his promise to Pepper.

He had told her that he would try not to freak out and that they both really knew what kind of man he was. Pepper had to remind him that if this didn't go well, that Maria might not ever talk to them again. Which would be quite difficult on their parenting. Pepper was not impressed at all when he assured her they could always make her talk.

Maria had just finished changing her outfit for the third time when the doorbell rang. She tried to ignore her father as he clenched his jaw, and went to stand up. In a split second of panic Maria yelled that she would get the door and ran off.

The door felt like 100 pounds in her hands. Her face was flushed red with stress and her heart was pounding madly. There was no turning back now, and the reality was slowly sinking in.

"Hey." Maria forced a smile on her face, she could easily ignore how well dressed Steve was. Not that he was ever not, but today he had dressed up a little more than usual. Steve seemed to be thinking along the same things as Maria because his face was also void any joy. His face was stern, and underneath Maria could tell that he was terrified.

Silently Maria closed the door behind him, and before he could make his way to the living room stopped him to fix a few wrinkles in his shirt. Her hands were almost a comfort, and as quickly as they appeared they were gone.

The living room was silent when the two entered. Maria didn't dare look at her father and could only look at her mother whose face seemed to radiate relief after Steve entered in behind Maria. If anyone was looking they would have seen the relief that crossed Tony's face but for a different reason.

Somewhere deep down in his brain he had yet to process what he was seeing. To Tony at that moment there was no way that his daughter, and Captain America would be sneaking around madly in love. Because of this Tony spit out something that stunned the small gathering.

"Steve! Oh good! Just in time, Maria is about to show us her new boy toy, so I need backup." Maria's face twisted into one of anger, and she quickly bit the inside of her lip. Steve's face went even a deeper red, because he was afraid that he would have to explain what was going on.

"Tony, that's Maria's boyfriend." Pepper said through clenched teeth. The look of joy seemed to drop from Tony's face, and the same awkwardness that was floating in the air before was back, and stronger than ever.

The wheels in Tony's head turned for a few moments, then he tilted his head with a fake smile on his face. At this moment he was thinking about two things, the first being how there was no way the Captain would get away with dating his daughter, and the second was how he was not going to freak out in the middle of the living room.

"I think dinner is ready." Tony grimaced, he didn't wait for anyone to argue, he just walked away. Pepper and Maria both knew that dinner wouldn't be for another fifteen minutes. Tony really needed the time to think, so they would take as much time as possible to walk to the dining room.

When Tony was out of earshot, a large smile spread across Pepper's face and without warning she grabbed Steve in a hug. The confusion was evident on his face, and he held his arms away from Pepper, unfamiliar with this form of touch.

"I was so worried that Maria was going to bring home some bum! But I'm so happy to see it was you!" Pepper was indeed happy. Pepper had always liked Steve, he was a kind, caring, gentle man and she knew that he had more respect for her daughter then any man on the planet. She knew that Steve truly cared for her daughter.

She couldn't even be bothered by his age. He was older then Tony, which in any other circumstance would be completely vile, if the man hadn't been frozen for so many years. Steve, much like Maria was just starting their journey. In reality he was only a few years older than Maria.

The three of them slowly made their way to the dining room, and found Tony fiddling with a fork on the table. One of the waitresses had brought him a glass of scotch and he had already taken a large mouthful. Pepper silently showed Steve where he was going to sit, before taking her spot at the opposite head of the table. Maria sat across from Steve, and both were diagonal from her father.

The next few moments were the most painfully silently for the family, and the only source of relief for the group was when the waitress walked into the room with a small trolley. She began handing out plates to everyone, and they all continued to eat in silence. When they all finished their first course, Tony leaned back in his chair holding the cold glass to his lips. He was in deep thought, and the anger was hard to miss on his face.

"Just say it, don't just sit there and brood." Maria's spoon scraped on her bowl drawing everyone's eyes. Tony clenched his jaw tightly, and then placed his now empty glass on the table. The ice made a soft sound as it clinked against the glass.

"Well, I had no idea that you were sneaking around with the captain…of all people." He said, Tony didn't even look at Steve. The only one who saw the look of anger in his face was Pepper who knew what was going to unfold in the next few minutes.

Maria too angry to speak signed her father, "We are not sneaking around!"

"Meeting in the park without your father knowing, _is _sneaking around." Tony easily formed the words with his hands, and much better then Pepper ever could because Tony had a skill for this kind of thing. Pepper had remembered once when Maria laughed at her around the age of three for signing a word to her wrong, then helped her correct it.

"Maybe I would have brought him around if you didn't freak out over every single boy I brought to the house!"

"I don't freak out about every single boy." Tony scooted himself to the end of his chair, bringing himself closer to Maria. Two sets of eyes watched as she did the same, ready for the face off. Steve had no idea what was happening and he was terrified. He had never seen so much emotion put into body language before, and he had no idea this is what an argument in ASL looked like.

Steve had picked up a few words from Maria, which was funny because sometimes she had no idea she was even using ASL. So a large majority of words he knew by mistake, she had only taught him a few words.

"Yeah, and you didn't burn the eyebrows off the last boy?" Maria's anger seemed to explode at this moment, her face was a little red and she was breathing harshly as she tried to calm herself down. Tony paused for a second thinking about what his daughter had said to him before he continued.

"He asked for it." The clam look on his face was enough to make Maria explode. She slammed her hands on the table; she could feel the burn from the blunt force. She ignored it, she was too angry to care. With care and shaking hands Maria signed a word to Tony that made everyone at the table choke. She then walked away from the table quickly.

The once calm face of Tony went red, his daughter would not get away with talking to him like that, and slipping from the table he followed after her. Steve was sure that they continued their argument somewhere else in the house, but he didn't bother asking or going after them.

"How is the chicken?" Pepper asked, sliding another piece in her mouth. Steve swallowed the food he had been chewing for a while now. The previous discussion didn't seem to faze her, so it must have been a regular occurrence in the house.

"Fantastic." He replied, following Pepper's lead. He might as well stay and eat, and let the two Starks blow off some steam.

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